Screening and treatment methods using IGS5 enzymes of the metalloprotease family

ABSTRACT

Polypeptides which are related to the neprilysin enzyme family and have zinc metalloprotease activities and are referred to as IGS5, polynucleotides encoding such polypeptides, vectors containing such polynucleotides, host cells containing such vectors, processes for producing such polypeptides and/or polynucleotides, screening methods for identifying compounds which stimulate or inhibit IGS5 polypeptides and/or polynucleotides, and the use of such polypeptides and/or polynucleotides in therapy of various dysfunctions, disorders or diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus type II, and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson&#39;s Disease.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11/433,388, filed May 15, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,198,525, which in turn was a division of application Ser. No. 10/870,003, filed Jun. 18, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,083,965, which in turn was a division of application Ser. No. 10/147,928, filed May 20, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,855,532, which was a continuation of international patent application No. PCT/EP00/11532, filed Nov. 17, 2000, designating the United States of America, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Priority is claimed based on European patent application no. 99 20 3862.0, filed Nov. 19, 1999; Dutch patent application no. 1013616, filed Nov. 19, 1999; European application no. 00201937.0, filed May 31, 2001; and Dutch patent application no. 1015356, filed May 31, 2000.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to newly identified polypeptides and polynucleotides encoding such polypeptides, to their use in therapy and in identifying compounds which may be stimulators and/or inhibitors which are potentially useful in therapy, and to production of such polypeptides and polynucleotides. More particularly, the polypeptides and polynucleotides of the present invention relate to enzymes which are members of the metalloprotease family of polypeptides or of other structurally and functionally related polypeptides. These enzymes are hereinafter referred to as IGS5.

The invention also relates to inhibiting or stimulating/activating the action of such polypeptides and polynucleotides, to a vector containing said polynucleotides and to a host cell containing such vector. The invention further relates to a method for screening compounds capable of stimulating or inhibiting said IGS5 enzymes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The drug discovery process is currently undergoing a fundamental revolution as it embraces “functional genomics,” that is, high throughput genome- or gene-based biology. This approach as a means to identify genes and gene products as therapeutic targets is rapidly superceding earlier approaches based on “positional cloning.” A phenotype, such as a biological function or genetic disease, would be identified and this would then be tracked back to the responsible gene, based on its genetic map position.

Functional genomics relies heavily on high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies and various tools of bioinformatics to identify gene sequences of potential interest from the many molecular biology databases now available. There is a continuing need to identify and characterize further genes and their related polypeptides/proteins, as targets for drug discovery.

Among the polypeptides of interest in drug discovery there are metalloproteases and other structurally and functionally related enzymes. Several diseases have been identified where metalloproteases play a critical role in the pathology of the disease. For example, a number of zinc metalloproteases or other structurally and functionally related enzymes have been identified and characterized in the state of the art, and it has become apparent that the participation of these enzymes, e.g. zinc metalloproteases, plays a role in a diverse array of biological functions encompassing both normal and disease situations. Zinc metalloproteases are subset of such enzymes whose catalytic functions are critically dependent on the zinc ion at the active site. This group of enzymes, which comprises various families classified on the basis of both sequence and structural information, are for example described to be intimately involved in such processes as embryonic development, cartilage and bone formation, processing of peptide hormones, reproduction, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis and cancer. Already active site-directed inhibitors of some of the zinc metalloproteases are being used therapeutically as e.g. antihypertensives.

On the basis of sequence and structural information around the zinc binding site of the zinc metalloproteases these enzymes may be classified into several families which may be further classified into superfamilies such as the “metzincins” (astacin, serratia, reprolysin, matrixin), the “gluzincins” (thermolysin, neprilysin, angiotensin converting enzyme, aminopeptidase), or the “zincins” comprising the superfamilies of metzincins and gluzincins. Such grouping not only aids in the elucidation of common catalytic and biosynthetic processing mechanisms, but also is invaluable in elucidating the function(s) of newly identified proteins which possess similar zinc binding motifs. Some individual examples of metalloproteases, e.g. zinc enzymes, already identified in the state of the art comprise neprilysin (NEP), endothelin converting enzyme (ECE), angiotensin converting enzyme, thermolysin, aminopeptidase, astacin, serratia, reprolysin, matrixin, insulinase, carboxypeptidase and DD-carboxypeptidase. The neprilysin family in representing the metalloprotease of the present invention.

Diverse vasoactive peptides are known to represent substrates of some enzymes belonging to the neprilysin family, e.g. ANP, bradykinin, big ET-1, ET-1, substance P and angiotensin I, all represent substrates of NEP and/or ECE-1, and also of SEP.

From the above evidence based on the state of the art it is apparent that metalloproteases and other structurally and functionally related enzymes play key roles in health and disease. Thus there is a continued need to further uncover important functions and potential therapeutic applications for this group of enzymes and to provide novel metalloproteases with the subsequent development of novel synthetic stimulators (activators) or inhibitors, which can help provide new treatments for a variety of diseases of socio-economic importance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention relates to IGS5, in particular to IGS5 polypeptides and IGS5 polynucleotides, preferably those related to the human species, to recombinant materials and methods for their production.

In another aspect, the invention relates to methods for using such polypeptides, polynucleotides and recombinant materials, including the treatment of diseases in which metalloproteases or structurally and functionally related enzymes play a critical role in the pathology.

Examples of diseases, in context of which the use of the polypeptides and polynucleotides of the present invention is thought to be useful, include, but are not limited to: CNS disorders, including schizophrenia, episodic paroxysmal anxiety (EPA) disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobia and panic, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, Parkinson's disease, general anxiety disorder, autism, delirium, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease/dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases, severe mental retardation and dyskinesias, such as Huntington's disease or Gilles dela Tourett's syndrome, anorexia, bulimia, stroke, addiction/dependency/craving, sleep disorder, epilepsy, migraine; attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); cardiovascular diseases including heart failure, angina pectoris, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, cardiac hypertrophy, hypotension, hypertension—e.g. essential hypertension, renal hypertension, or pulmonary hypertension, thrombosis, arteriosclerosis, cerebral vasospasm, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral ischemia, cerebral infarction, peripheral vascular disease, Raynaud's disease, kidney disease—e.g. renal failure; dyslipidemias; obesity; emesis; gastrointestinal disorders including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), gastroesophagal reflux disease (GERD), motility disorders and conditions of delayed gastric emptying, such as postoperative or diabetic gastroparesis, and diabetes, ulcers—e.g. gastric ulcer; diarrhoea; other diseases including osteoporosis; inflammations; infections such as bacterial, fungal, protozoan and viral infections, particularly infections caused by HIV-1 or HIV-2; pain; cancers; chemotherapy induced injury; tumor invasion; immune disorders; urinary retention; asthma; allergies; arthritis; benign prostatic hypertrophy; endotoxin shock; sepsis; complication of diabetes mellitus.

In a further aspect, the invention relates to methods for identifying agonists and antagonists or inhibitors using the materials provided by the invention, and treating conditions associated with IGS5 imbalance with the identified compounds.

In a still further aspect, the invention relates to diagnostic assays for detecting diseases associated with inappropriate IGS5 activity or levels.

The Polypeptides of the present invention are in particular of interest in the context of cardiovascular diseases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: Schematic representation of the relative positions of the different cDNA clones that were isolated and fully sequenced to generate the partial IGS5 consensus cDNA sequence. PCR primers that were used for 5′ RACE and semi-homology PCR cloning are indicated and have been described in this document (indicated by the respective IP#). IGS5CONS denotes the consensus contig that was obtained after merging all obtained sequences. The 691 amino acids long open reading frame present in the IGS5 contig, that is postulated to contain the ectodomain of the IGS5 enzyme (IGS5DNA, IGS5PROT) is indicated with open boxes (“□□”). The part of the aligned EST sequences (accession no AA524283, AI088893, AI217369 and AI380811) that bears homology to members of the NEP/ECE family is indicated with “+==+” (IGS5EST). “bp”=base pairs.

FIG. 2 Schematic representation of the relative positions of the different cDNA clones that were isolated and fully sequenced to generate the IGS5DNA1 and IGS5DNA2 cDNA sequences. PCR primers that were used for PCR, 5′ RACE and semi-homology PCR cloning are indicated and have been described in this document (indicated by the respective IP#). IGS5CONS1 and IGS5CONS2 denote the 2 different consensus contigs that were obtained after merging all obtained sequences. IGS5DNA1 and IGS5DNA2 denote the open reading frames present in IGS5CONS 1 and IGS5CONS2 respectively (“**”). The part of the aligned EST sequences (accession no. AA524283, AI088893, AI217369 and AI 380811) that bears homology to members of the NEP/ECE family is indicated with “+==+” (IGS5EST). “bp”=base pairs. The 78 bp fragment identified within genomic clone IGS5/S1 is denoted as “IGS5S1/78 bp.” The absence of the 78 bp alternate exon sequence within clones YCE231, YCE233 and YCE235 and within IGS5CONS2 and IGS5DNA2 is indicated by a gap.

FIG. 3 RNA Master Blot™ analysis of the IGS5 gene.

FIG. 4 Sequence of the 180 bp fragment, encoding the POMC signal sequence, the Gly-Ser linker, the His6 tag and the start of the IGS5 ectodomain sequence, assembled by overlap PCR using different oligonucleotides. (*silent mutation (bp 57 of the pomc signal sequence)).

FIG. 5 Plasmid map of vector pAcSG2SOLhuIGS5His6.

FIG. 6 Predicted protein sequence of the mature recombinant soluble His-tagged human IGS5, as expressed in Sf9 cells upon infection with recombinant baculovirus IGBV73 (after cleavage of the 26AA long POMC signal sequence). Potential N-glycosylation sites are underlined.

FIG. 7 Deglycosylation study—Western blot analysis. 72 h CM harvest of the infection with the 3 recombinant soluble His6IGS5 clones (clone 1: lanes 1 to 3, clone 2: lanes 4 to 6, clone 3: lanes 7 to 9) was treated as described with and without addition of N-glycosidase F. 10 μl CM equivalent was loaded on gel versus 20 μl of the non-treated CM as a control. Detection was performed with anti-His antibody (21E1B4EPR300, Innogenetics, 1 μg/ml final concentration). Second antibody was rabbit anti mouse-Alkaline Phosphatase conjugated (Sigma A-1902). Revelation of the bands was done with NBT-BCIP. Mr marker is the Biolabs broad range MW marker (cat. no. 7707S).

FIG. 8 SDS PAGE analysis under reducing conditions (+DTT) on 12.5% PHASTgel (Pharmacia; 4 μl/slot) of the Lentil chromatography steps. Proteins were visualised by silver staining.

FIG. 9 Western blot analysis of IGS5 at different stages of the purification procedure. Samples were separated on a 7.5% Minigel (Biorad MINI-Protean II) and analyzed via Western blot using the anti His6 primary mab 21E1B4, followed by an alkaline phosphatase conjugated rabbit anti mouse Ig as a secondary antibody and detection by nitroblue tetrazolium/5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate (NBT/BCIP). The column under DTT denotes whether the proteins were reduced or not with 1,4-dithio-DL-threitol (DTT).

FIG. 10 SDS PAGE analysis under reducing conditions (+DTT) on 12.5% PHASTgel (Pharmacia, 4 μl slots) of different imidazole elution pools of the Zn-IMAC chromatography of pool 1 from the lentil chromatography eluate. Proteins were visualised by silver staining.

FIG. 11 Q-RT-PCR analysis of human SEP.1/.2 in a general panel of human tissues (top) and in the extended CNS-panel (bottom)

FIG. 12 Q-RT-PCR analysis of SEP mRNA expression in 3 different panels of rat tissues. Due to abnormally low GAPDH levels in duodenum (panel I+II), brainstem (panel III), septum (panel I) and dorsal root ganglia (panel III) the profiling results in these tissues are not reliable. Tissues marked with (&) were not dissected in rat panel I. Tissues marked with (*) were not dissected in the rat panels II and III.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Definitions

The following definitions are provided to facilitate understanding of certain terms used frequently herein.

“IGS5” refers, among others, to a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in one of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6, or respective variants thereof. Thus “IGS5” particularly includes IGS5PROT, IGS5PROT1 and IGS5PROT2 (see below).

“Enzyme Activity” or “Biological Activity” refers to the metabolic or physiologic function of said IGS5 including similar activities or improved activities or these activities with decreased undesirable side effects. Also included are antigenic and immunogenic activities of said IGS5.

“IGS5-gene” refers to a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence set forth in one of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 and SEQ ID NO:5, or respective variants, e.g. allelic variants, thereof and/or their complements.

“Antibodies” as used herein includes polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies, chimeric, single chain, and humanized antibodies, as well as Fab fragments, including the products of a Fab or other immunoglobulin expression library.

“Isolated” means altered “by the hand of man” from the natural state and/or separated from the natural environment. Thus, if an “isolated” composition or substance that occurs in nature has been “isolated,” it has been changed or removed from its original environment, or both. For example, a polynucleotide or a polypeptide naturally present in a living animal is not “isolated,” but the same polynucleotide or polypeptide separated from the coexisting materials of its natural state is “isolated,” as the term is employed herein.

“Polynucleotide” generally refers to any polyribonucleotide or polydeoxribonucleotide, which may be unmodified RNA or DNA or modified RNA or DNA. “Polynucleotides” include, without limitation, single- and double-stranded DNA, DNA that is a mixture of single- and double-stranded regions, single- and double-stranded RNA, and RNA that is mixture of single- and double-stranded regions, hybrid molecules comprising DNA and RNA that may be single-stranded or, more typically, double-stranded or a mixture of single- and double-stranded regions. In addition, “polynucleotide” refers to triple-stranded regions comprising RNA or DNA or both RNA and DNA. The term “polynucleotide” also includes DNAs or RNAs containing one or more modified bases and DNAs or RNAs with backbones modified for stability or for other reasons. “Modified” bases include, for example, tritylated bases and unusual bases such as inosine. A variety of modifications may be made to DNA and RNA; thus, “polynucleotide” embraces chemically, enzymatically or metabolically modified forms of polynucleotides as typically found in nature, as well as the chemical forms of DNA and RNA characteristic of viruses and cells. “Polynucleotide” also embraces relatively short polynucleotides, often referred to as oligonucleotides.

“Polypeptide” refers to any peptide or protein comprising two or more amino acids joined to each other by peptide bonds or modified peptide bonds, i.e., peptide isosteres. “Polypeptide” refers to both short chains, commonly referred to as peptides, oligopeptides or oligomers, and to longer chains, generally referred to as proteins. Polypeptides may contain amino acids other than the 20 gene-encoded amino acids. “Polypeptides” include amino acid sequences modified either by natural processes, such as post-translational processing, or by chemical modification techniques which are well known in the art. Such modifications are well described in basic texts and in more detailed monographs, as well as in a voluminous research literature. Modifications may occur anywhere in a polypeptide, including the peptide backbone, the amino acid side-chains and the amino or carboxyl termini. It will be appreciated that the same type of modification may be present to the same or varying degrees at several sites in a given polypeptide. Also, a given polypeptide may contain many types of modifications. Polypeptides may be branched as a result of ubiquitination, and they may be cyclic, with or without branching. Cyclic, branched and branched cyclic polypeptides may result from post-translation natural processes or may be made by synthetic methods. Modifications include acetylation, acylation, ADP-ribosylation, amidation, biotinylation, covalent attachment of flavin, covalent attachment of a heme moiety, covalent attachment of a nucleotide or nucleotide derivative, covalent attachment of a lipid or lipid derivative, covalent attachment of phosphotidylinositol; cross-linking, cyclization, disulfide bond formation, demethylation, formation of covalent cross-links, formation of cystine, formation of pyroglutamate, formulation, gamma-carboxylation, glycosylation, GPI anchor formation, hydroxylation, iodination, methylation, myristoylation, oxidation, proteolytic processing, phosphorylation, prenylation, racemization, selenoylation, sulfation, transfer-RNA mediated addition of amino acids to proteins such as arginylation, and ubiquitination (see, for instance, “Proteins—Structure and Molecular Properties,” 2nd Ed., T.E. Creighton, W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 1993; Wold, F., “Post-translational Protein Modifications: Perspectives and Prospects,” pp. 1-12 in “Post-translational Covalent Modification of Proteins,” B. C. Johnson, Ed., Academic Press, New York, 1983; Seifter et al., “Analysis for protein modifications and nonprotein cofactors,” Meth. Enzymol. (1990) 182:626-646; and Rattan et al., “Protein Synthesis: Post-translational Modifications and Aging,” Ann. NY Acad. Sci. (1992) 663:48-62).

“Variant” refers to a polynucleotide or polypeptide that differs from a reference polynucleotide or polypeptide respectively, but retains essential properties. A typical variant of a polynucleotide differs in nucleotide sequence from another, reference polynucleotide. Changes in the nucleotide sequence of the variant may or may not alter the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by the reference polynucleotide. Nucleotide changes may result in amino acid substitutions, additions, deletions, fusions and truncations in the polypeptide encoded by the reference sequence, as discussed below. A typical variant of a polypeptide differs in amino acid sequence from another, reference polypeptide. Generally, differences are limited so that the sequences of the reference polypeptide and the variant are closely similar overall and, in many regions, identical. A variant and reference polypeptide may differ in amino acid sequence by one or more substitutions, additions, and deletions in any combination. A substituted or inserted amino acid residue may or may not be one encoded by the genetic code. A variant of a polynucleotide or polypeptide may be a naturally occurring such as an allelic variant, or it may be a variant that is not known to occur naturally. Non-naturally occurring variants of polynucleotides and polypeptides may be made by mutagenesis techniques or by direct synthesis.

“Identity,” as known as a measure of identity in the art, is a relationship between two or more polypeptide sequences or two or more polynucleotide sequences, as determined by comparing the sequences. In the art, “identity” also means the degree of sequence relatedness between polypeptide or polynucleotide sequences, as the case may be, as determined by the match between strings of such sequences, e.g. in generally by alignment of the sequences so that the highest order match is obtained. Thus “Identity” and or the alternative wording “Similarity” has an art-recognized meaning and can be readily calculated by known methods, including but not limited to those described in “Computational Molecular Biology,” Lesk, A. M., Ed., Oxford University Press, New York, 1988; “Biocomputing: Informatics and Genome Projects,” Smith, D. W., Ed., Academic Press, New York, 1993; “Computer Analysis of Sequence Data,” Part I, Griffin, A. M., and Griffin, H. G., Eds., Humana Press, New Jersey, 1994; “Sequence Analysis in Molecular Biology,” von Heinje, G., Academic Press, 1987; “Sequence Analysis Primer,” Gribskov, M. and Devereux, J., Eds., M Stockton Press, New York, 1991; and Carillo, H., and Lipman, D., SIAM J. Applied Math., 48: 1073 (1988). Preferred methods to determine identity are designed to give the largest match between the sequences tested. Methods to determine identity and similarity are codified in publicly available computer programs. Preferred computer program methods to determine identity and similarity between two sequences include, but are not limited to, the GCG program package (Devereux, J., et al., Nucleic Acids Research 12(1): 387 (1984)), BLASTP, BLASTN, and FASTA (Atschul, S. F. et al., J. Molec. Biol. 215: 403-410 (1990). The BLAST X program is publicly available from NCBI and other sources (BLAST Manual, Altschul, S., et al., NCBI NLM NIH Bethesda, Md. 20894; Altschul, S., et al., J. Mol. Biol. 215: 403-410 (1990). The well known Smith Waterman algorithm may also be used to determine identity. A publicly available program useful to determine identity or similarity of polypeptide sequences or polynucleotide sequence, respectively, is known as the “gap” program from Genetics Computer Group, Madison Wis., which is usually run with the default parameters for comparisons (along with no penalty for end gaps). The preferred (i.e. default) parameters for polypeptide sequence comparison include the following: Algorithm as described by Needleman and Wunsch, J. Mol. Biol. 48: 443-453 (1970); Comparison Matrix BLOSSUM62 from Hentikoff and Hentikoff, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 89:10915-10919 (1992); Gap Penalty: 12; Gap Length Penalty: 14. The preferred (i.e. default) parameters for polynucleotide sequence comparison include the following: Algorithm as described by Needleman and Wunsch, J. Mol. Biol. 48: 443-453 (1970); Comparison Matrix: matches=+10, mismatch=0; Gap Penalty: 50; Gap Length Penalty: 3. The word “homology” may substitute for the word “identity.”

As an illustration, by a polynucleotide having a nucleotide sequence having at least, for example, 95% “identity” to a reference nucleotide sequence, for example to a reference nucleotide sequence selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 and SEQ ID NO:5, is intended that the nucleotide sequence of the polynucleotide is identical to the reference sequence except that the polynucleotide sequence may include up to five point mutations per each 100 nucleotides of the respective reference nucleotide sequence. In other words, to obtain a polynucleotide having a nucleotide sequence at least 95% identical to a reference nucleotide sequence, up to 5% of the nucleotides in the reference sequence may be deleted or substituted with another nucleotide, or a number of nucleotides up to 5% of the total nucleotides in the reference sequence may be inserted into the reference sequence, or in a number of nucleotides of up to 5% of the total nucleotides in the reference sequence there may be a combination of deletion, insertion and substitution. These mutations of the reference sequence may occur at the 5′ or 3′ terminal positions of the reference nucleotide sequence or anywhere between those terminal positions, interspersed either individually among nucleotides in the reference sequence or in one or more contiguous groups within the reference sequence.

Similarly, by a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence having at least, for example 95% “identity” to a reference amino acid sequence, for example to a reference amino acid sequence selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6, is intended that the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide is identical to the reference sequence except that the polypeptide sequence may include up to five amino acid alterations per each 100 amino acids of the respective reference amino acid. In other words, to obtain a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to a reference amino acid sequence, up to 5% of the amino acid residues in the reference sequence may be deleted or substituted with another amino acid, or a number of amino acids up to 5% of the total amino acid residues in the reference sequence may be inserted into the reference sequence. These alterations of the reference sequence may occur at the amino- or carboxy-terminal positions of the reference amino acid sequence or anywhere between those terminal positions, interspersed either individually among residues in the reference sequence or in one or more contiguous groups within the reference sequence.

“Homolog” is a generic term used in the art to indicate a polynucleotide or polypeptide sequence possessing a high degree of sequence relatedness to a subject sequence. Such relatedness may be quantified by determining the degree of identity and/or similarity between the sequences being compared as herein described. Falling within this generic term are the terms “ortholog,” meaning a polynucleotide or polypeptide that is the functional equivalent of a polynucleotide or polypeptide in another species, and “paralog” meaning a functionally similar sequence when considered within the same species. Hence, in humans for example, within the family of endothelin converting enzymes ECE-1 is a paralog of the other members, e.g. of ECE-2.

“Fusion protein” refers to a protein encoded by two, often unrelated, fused genes or fragments thereof. This term may be illustrated for example by fusion proteins comprising various portions of constant region of immunoglobulin molecules together with another human protein or part thereof. In many cases, employing an immunoglobulin Fc region as a part of a fusion protein is advantageous for use in therapy and diagnosis resulting in, for example, improved pharmacokinetic properties (see, e.g., EP-A 0232 262). On the other hand, for some uses it would be desirable to be able to delete the Fc part after the fusion protein has been expressed, detected and purified.

Polypeptides of the Invention

The present invention relates to IGS5 polypeptides (or IGS5 enzymes, e.g. to IGS5PROT, IGS5PROT1 or IGS5PROT2, respectively), in particular to human IGS5 polypeptides (or human IGS5 enzymes), and also to IGS5 polypeptide fragments comprising a substantial portion of said entire IGS5 polypeptide. Thus, in a first aspect, the IGS5 polypeptides of the present invention include isolated polypeptides, in particular isolated human species polypeptides, comprising an amino acid sequence which has at least 70% identity, preferably at least 80% and in particular at least 85% identity, more preferably at least 90% identity, yet more preferably at least 95% identity, still more preferably at least 97-99% identity, to one of that selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 SEQ and SEQ ID NO:6, over the entire length of the respective SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 SEQ and SEQ ID NO:6. Such polypeptides include those comprising one of the amino acid sequences selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 SEQ and ID NO:6.

In a second aspect, the IGS5 polypeptides of the present invention include isolated polypeptides, in particular isolated human IGS5 polypeptides, having an amino acid sequence of at least 70% identity, preferably at least 80% and in particular at least 85% identity, more preferably at least 90% identity, yet more preferably at least 95% identity, still more preferably at least 97-99% identity, to one of the amino acid sequences selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 SEQ and ID NO:6, over the entire length of the respective SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 SEQ and ID NO:6. Such polypeptides include the IGS5 polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2, of SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6, respectively.

Further polypeptides of the present invention include isolated IGS5 polypeptides comprising the sequence contained in one of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 SEQ and ID NO:6, and which in particular are human species polypeptides. Polypeptides of the present invention are members of the metalloprotease family of polypeptides. They are of interest because several dysfunctions, disorders or diseases have been identified where metalloproteases play a critical role in the pathology of the disease. Examples of the diseases, in context of which the polypeptides and polynucleotides of the present invention are thought to be useful, include amongst others: CNS disorders, including schizophrenia, episodic paroxysmal anxiety (EPA) disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobia and panic, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, Parkinson's disease, general anxiety disorder, autism, delirium, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease/dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases, severe mental retardation and dyskinesias, such as Huntington's disease or Gilles dela Tourett's syndrome, anorexia, bulimia, stroke, addiction/dependency/craving, sleep disorder, epilepsy, migraine; attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); cardiovascular diseases including heart failure, angina pectoris, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, cardiac hypertrophy, hypotension, hypertension—e.g. essential hypertension, renal hypertension, or pulmonary hypertension, thrombosis, arteriosclerosis, cerebral vasospasm, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral ischemia, cerebral infarction, peripheral vascular disease, Raynaud's disease, kidney disease—e.g. renal failure; dyslipidemias; obesity; emesis; gastrointestinal disorders including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), gastroesophagal reflux disease (GERD), motility disorders and conditions of delayed gastric emptying, such as post-operative or diabetic gastroparesis, and diabetes, ulcers—e.g. gastric ulcer; diarrhoea; other diseases including osteoporosis; inflammations; infections such as bacterial, fungal, protozoan and viral infections, particularly infections caused by HIV-1 or HIV-2; pain; cancers; chemotherapy induced injury; tumor invasion; immune disorders; urinary retention; asthma; allergies; arthritis; benign prostatic hypertrophy; endotoxin shock; sepsis; complication of diabetes mellitus. The Polypeptides of the present invention are in particular of interest in the context of cardiovascular diseases.

In one embodiment, the polypeptides and polynucleotides of the present invention are thought to be useful in the context of Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, Huntington's disease, stroke, cerebral ischemia and other neurodegenerative diseases, wherein the other neurodegenerative diseases are selected from the group consisting of ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), retinitis pigmentosa, mild cognitive impairment, Pick's disease, senile dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, subcortical dementias, Wilson disease, multiple infarct disease, arteriosclerotic dementia, AIDS associated dementia, cerebellar degeneration, spinocerebellar degeneration syndromes, Friedreichs ataxia, ataxia telangiectasia, epilepsy related brain damage, spinal cord injury, restless legs syndrome, striatonigral degeneration, cerebral vasculitis, mitochondrial encephalo-myopathies, neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, spinal muscular atrophies, lysosomal storage disorders with central nervous system involvement, leukodystrophies, urea cycle defect disorders, hepatic encephalopathies, renal encephalopathies, metabolic encephalopathies, porphyria, bacterial or viral meningitis and meningoencephalitis, prion diseases, poisonings with neurotoxic compounds, Guillain Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory neuropathies, polymyositis, dermatomyositis and radiation-induced brain damage.

Furthermore, the IGS5 polypeptides of the invention are also of interest for identifying stimulators or inhibitors of these polypeptides, for providing diagnostic assays for detecting diseases associated with inappropriate IGS5 activity or levels, and for treating conditions associated with IGS5 imbalance with compounds identified to be stimulators or inhibitors. Hence, the IGS5 polypeptides of the invention may be used for designing or screening for selective stimulators or inhibitors, and thus can lead to the development of new drugs. The properties of the IGS5 polypeptides, in particular of the human species IGS5 polypeptides, of the present invention are hereinafter referred to as “IGS5 activity” or “IGS5 polypeptide activity” or “biological activity of IGS5.” Also included amongst these activities are antigenic and immunogenic activities of said IGS5 polypeptides, in particular the antigenic and immunogenic activities of one of the polypeptides selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 SEQ and ID NO:6. Preferably, a polypeptide of the present invention exhibits at least one biological activity of IGS5, preferably of human IGS5.

Accordingly, the present invention also refers to the use of those compounds inhibiting or decreasing activity of an IGS5 polypeptide for the treatment of the aforementioned diseases or disorders, in particular, the CNS diseases or disorders.

The IGS5 polypeptides of the present invention may be in the form of a “mature” protein or may be a part of a larger protein such as a precursor or a fusion protein. It is often advantageous to include an additional amino acid sequence which contains secretory or leader sequences, pro-sequences, sequences which aid in purification such as multiple histidine residues, or an additional sequence for stability during recombinant production.

The present invention also includes variants of the aforementioned polypeptides, that is polypeptides that vary from the referents by conservative amino acid substitutions, whereby a residue is substituted by another with like characteristics. Typical such substitutions are among Ala, Val, Leu and Ile; among Ser and Thr, among the acidic residues Asp and Glu; among Asn and Gln; and among the basic residues Lys and Arg; or aromatic residues Phe and Tyr. Particularly preferred are variants in which several, 5-10, 1-5, 1-3, 1-2 or 1 amino acids are substituted, deleted, or added in any combination.

The present invention furthermore pertains to fragments of the IGS5 polypeptides, in particular to IGS5 polypeptide fragments comprising a substantial portion of the entire IGS5 polypeptide. A fragment is a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence that entirely is the same as part, but not all, of the amino acid sequence of the aforementioned IGS5 polypeptides. As with IGS5 polypeptides, fragments may be “free-standing,” or comprised within a larger polypeptide of which they form a part or region, most preferably as a single continuous region. Preferred fragments include, for example, truncation polypeptides having the amino acid sequence of IGS5 polypeptides, except for deletion of a continuous series of residues that includes the amino terminus, or a continuous series of residues that includes the carboxyl terminus or deletion of two continuous series of residues, one including the amino terminus and one including the carboxyl terminus. Also preferred are fragments characterized by structural or functional attributes such as fragments that comprise alpha-helix and alpha-helix forming regions, beta-sheet and beta-sheet-forming regions, turn and turn-forming regions, coil and coil-forming regions, hydrophilic regions, hydrophobic regions, alpha amphipathic regions, beta amphipathic regions, flexible regions, surface-forming regions, substrate binding region, and high antigenic index regions. Other preferred fragments are biologically active fragments. Biologically active fragments are these that mediate enzyme activity, including those with a similar activity or an improved activity, or with a decreased undesirable activity. Also included are those that are antigenic or immunogenic in an animal, especially in a human.

With regard to the variant of the invention pertaining to polypeptide fragments comprising a substantial portion of the entire IGS5 polypeptide as shown in one of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 SEQ and ID NO:6, the term “substantial” has the meaning that the fragment of the IGS5 polypeptide has in particular a size of at least about 50 amino acids, preferably a size of at least about 100 amino acids, more preferably a size of at least about 200 amino acids, most preferably a size of at least about 300 amino acids. In this context “about” includes the particularly recited sizes larger or smaller by several, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 amino acids. The IGS5 polypeptide fragments according to the invention preferably show at least to some extent at least one of the properties which are characteristic for the IGS5 polypeptides themselves.

With regard to the IGS5 polypeptides of the present invention it was found that they may be involved in the metabolism of biologically active peptides. In particular it was found that these IGS5 polypeptides are metalloprotease type enzymes which may act on a variety of vasoactive peptides. Vasoactive peptides known in the state of the art include atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), bradykinin, big endothelin (Big ET-1), endothelin (ET-1), substance P, and angiotensin-1 In the context of the present invention it was found that the IGS5 ectodomain, which is a novel human metalloprotease, hydrolyzes e.g. in vitro a variety of said vasoactive peptides including Big ET-1, ET-1, ANP and bradykinin. The IGS5 metalloprotease type enzymes of the present invention are further characterized by their unique property to be able to cleave the physiologically relevant peptide PACAP(1-27), whereas PACAP(1-27) is not cleaved by recombinantly produced and purified NEP (Example 7), ECE-1 and XCE/DINE. The data summarized herein indicate that PACAP(1-27) might be the physiologically relevant substrate of hSEP.

Furthermore, the IGS5 metalloprotease type enzymes of the present invention may be inhibited by reference compounds that are used to determine the inhibition properties with regard to enzymes having ECE/NEP-characteristics, e.g. inhibition by compounds such as phosphoramidon. No inhibition of IGS5 is observed for reference compounds that specifically inhibit NEP, e.g. no inhibition of IGS5 by compounds such as thiorphan. Nor any inhibition of IGS5 is observed for reference compounds that specifically inhibit ECE, e.g. no inhibition of IGS5 by compounds such as the selective ECE inhibitor CGS-35066 (De Lombart et al., J. Med. Chem. 2000, Feb. 10; 43(3):488-504). However, the IGS5 metalloprotease type enzymes of the present invention can be inhibited by the compounds as displayed in international patent applications WO02094176 and WO2005030795. The inhibition data of these compounds with regard to the inhibition of the IGS5 metalloprotease type enzymes of the present invention are further described in the experimental part below, in particular in Example 7.

Polypeptides of the present invention can be prepared in any suitable manner. Such polypeptides include isolated naturally occurring polypeptides, recombinantly produced polypeptides, synthetically produced polypeptides, or polypeptides produced by a combination of these methods. Means for preparing such polypeptides are well understood in the art.

Polynucleotides of the Invention

In another aspect, the present invention relates to IGS5 polynucleotides (e.g. to IGS5DNA, IGS5DNA1 or IGS5DNA2, respectively), in particular to human IGS5 polynucleotides. Such polynucleotides include isolated polynucleotides, preferably isolated human species polynucleotides, comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide which has at least 70% identity, preferably at least 80% and in particular at least 85% identity, more preferably at least 90% identity, yet more preferably at least 95% identity, to one of the amino acid sequences selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6, over the entire length of the respective SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6. In this regard, polynucleotides encoding polypeptides which have at least 97% identity are highly preferred, whilst those with at least 98-99% identity are more highly preferred, and those with at least 99%, in particular 99.9%, identity are most highly preferred. Such polynucleotides include polynucleotides comprising the nucleotide sequence contained in one of the SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5, encoding the respective polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6.

In a variant of this aspect, the polynucleotides of the present invention include isolated polynucleotides, in particular isolated human polynucleotides, comprising a nucleotide sequence that has at least 70% identity, preferably at least 80% and in particular at least 85% identity, more preferably at least 90% identity, yet more preferably at least 95% identity, to a nucleotide sequence encoding one of the polypeptides selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6, over the entire coding region. In this regard, polynucleotides which have at least 97% identity are highly preferred, whilst those with at least 98-99% identity are more highly preferred, and those with at least 99%, in particular 99.9%, identity are most highly preferred.

Further polynucleotides of the present invention include isolated polynucleotides, in particular isolated human polynucleotides, comprising a nucleotide sequence which has at least 70% identity, preferably at least 80% and in particular at least 85% identity, more preferably at least 90% identity, yet more preferably at least 95% identity, to one of the nucleotide sequences selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 and SEQ ID NO:5, over the entire length of the respective SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5. Particularly, polynucleotides of the present invention include isolated polynucleotides having a nucleotide sequence of at least 70% identity, preferably at least 80% and in particular at least 85% identity, more preferably at least 90% identity, yet more preferably at least 95% identity, to the respective reference nucleotide sequence over the entire length of the reference nucleotide sequence. In this regard, polynucleotides which comprise or have a nucleotide sequence of at least 97% identity to one of the nucleotide sequences selected from the group of SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO:3 and SEQ ID NO:5 are highly preferred, whilst those with at least 98-99% identity, are more highly preferred, and those with at least 99%, in particular 99.9%, identity are most highly preferred. Such polynucleotides include a polynucleotides comprising one of the polynucleotides of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5, as well as the polynucleotides of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5 themselves, which in particular are human species polynucleotides. The invention also provides polynucleotides which are complementary to all the above described polynucleotides.

The nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 (designated “IGS5DNA”) is a cDNA sequence from human origin (Homo sapiens) with a length of 2076 nucleotides and comprises a polypeptide encoding sequence (from nucleotide no. 1 to no. 2073) encoding a polypeptide of 691 amino acids, the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 (designated “IGS5PROT”). The nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 may be identical to the polypeptide encoding sequence contained in SEQ ID NO:1 or it may be a sequence other than the one contained in SEQ ID NO: 1, which, as a result of the redundancy (degeneracy) of the genetic code, also encodes the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2.

The nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:3 (designated “IGS5DNA1”) is a cDNA sequence from human origin (Homo sapiens) with a length of 2340 nucleotides (including the stop codon tag) and comprises a polypeptide encoding sequence (from nucleotide no. 1 to no. 2337) encoding a polypeptide of 779 amino acids, the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:4 (designated “IGS5PROT1”). The nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:4 may be identical to the polypeptide encoding sequence contained in SEQ ID NO:3 or it may be a sequence other than the one contained in SEQ ID NO:3, which, as a result of the redundancy (degeneracy) of the genetic code, also encodes the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:4.

The nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:5 (designated “IGS5DNA2”) is a cDNA sequence from human origin (Homo sapiens) with a length of 2262 nucleotides (including the stop codon tag) and comprises a polypeptide encoding sequence (from nucleotide no. 1 to no. 2259) encoding a polypeptide of 753 amino acids, the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:6 (designated “IGS5PROT2”). The nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:6 may be identical to the polypeptide encoding sequence contained in SEQ ID NO:5 or it may be a sequence other than the one contained in SEQ ID NO:5, which, as a result of the redundancy (degeneracy) of the genetic code, also encodes the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:6.

The characteristics of the type of polypeptides encoded by the polynucleotides of the invention are described in more detail below.

Biological and Pharmacological Features of Metalloproteases

The polypeptides of the present invention, and in particular those being human species polypeptides, are structurally and functionally related to other proteins of the metalloprotease family, e.g. showing homology and/or structural similarity with metalloproteases or related enzymes, such as e.g. matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), angiotensis converting enzyme (ACE), endothelin converting enzyme (ECE) or neutral endopeptidase (NEP), respectively. Thus, for example, the polypeptide of the SEQ ID NO:2 is structurally and functionally related to other proteins of the metalloprotease family, having homology and/or structural similarity with enzymes such as NEP or ECE (e.g. ECE-1), and in particular with NEP. Thus, preferred polypeptides and polynucleotides of the present invention are expected to have, inter alia, similar biological functions/properties to their homologous polypeptides and polynucleotides. Furthermore, preferred polypeptides and polynucleotides of the present invention have at least one IGS5 activity.

The general features of metalloproteases and their activities, in particular with regard to the present invention, are already described above. For further understanding of the nature and characteristics of the polypeptides and polynucleotides of the present invention, in particular the function of these polypeptides and polynucleotides, some more specific features of each of the enzymes like MMPs, ACE, ECE or NEP, respectively, are summarized as follows.

Matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), also designated matrixins, are a family of zinc metalloproteases that function in the turnover of components of the extracellular matrix. To date, several members of the matrixin family have been identified in humans. MMPs are synthesized and secreted from a number of cell types such as fibroblasts, epithelial cells, phagocytes, lymphocytes and cancer cells. MMPs are synthesized as pre-pro-enzymes which are destined to be secreted as proenzymes from all producing cells except neutrophils. Under physiological conditions these enzymes play central roles in morphogenesis, tissue remodelling and resorption. In excess, they participate in the destruction of the extracellular matrix associated with many connective tissue diseases such as in arthritis, periodontitis, glomerulonephritis, and with cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Thus, the MMPs play a central role, for example, in the normal embryo-genesis and tissue remodelling and in many diseases such as arthritis, cancer, periodontitis, glomerulonephritis, encephalomyelitis, atherosclerosis and tissue ulceration. The importance of the matrixins in both physiological and pathological catabolism of connective tissue matrix has been emphasized, because little MMP activity can be detected in normal steady-state tissues, but the synthesis of many MMPs is transcriptionally regulated by inflammatory cytokines, hormones, growth factors and on cellular transformation. The biological activities of MMPs are further controlled extracellularly during steps in their activation from inactive precursors (proMMPs), as well as through interaction with the extracellular substratum and endogenous inhibitors. The MMPs are an important class of zinc-dependent metalloproteases involved in degradation and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Inhibitors of these enzymes have therapeutic potential in e.g. cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease, and several of these inhibitors are under clinical evaluation.

Angiotensin I Converting Enzyme (ACE; peptidyl dipeptidase A; EC 3.4.15.1) is a member of the angiotensin converting enzyme family of zinc metalloproteases. ACE is primarily expressed at the surface of endothelial, epithelial and neuroepithelial cells (somatic ACE) as an ectoenzyme, meaning that it is anchored to the plasma membrane with the bulk of its mass, including its catalytic site/s, facing the extracellular milieu. ACE is found in the plasma membrane of vascular endothelial cells, with high levels found at the vascular endothelial surface of the lung such that the active sites of ACE are posed to metabolize circulating substrates. In addition to the endothelial location of ACE, the enzyme is also expressed in the brush borders of absorptive epithelia of the small intestine and the kidney proximal convoluted tubule. ACE is also found in mononuclear cells, such as monocytes after macrophage differentiation and T-lymphocytes, and in fibroblasts. In vitro autoradiography, employing radiolabelled specific ACE inhibitors, and immunohistochemical studies have mapped the principal locations of ACE in the brain. ACE was found primarily in the choroid plexus, which may be the source of ACE in cerebrospinal fluid, ependyma, subfornical organ, basal ganglia (caudate-putamen and globus pallidus), substantia nigra and pituitary. A soluble form of ACE has been detected in many biological fluids such as serum, seminal fluid, amniotic fluid and cerebrospinal fluid. The soluble form of ACE appears to be derived from the membrane-bound form of the enzyme in endothelial cells. A main physiological activity of ACE is that it cleaves the C-terminal dipeptide from angiotensin I to produce the potent vasopressor peptide angiotensin II and inactivates the vasodilatory peptide bradykinin by the sequential removal of two C-terminal dipeptides. As a consequence of the involvement of ACE in the metabolism of these two vasoactive peptides angiotensin II and bradykinin, ACE has become a crucial molecular target in the treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure. This has led to the development of highly potent and specific ACE inhibitors which have become clinically important and widespread as orally active drugs to control these conditions of hypertension and congestive heart failure. Whilst the metabolism of vasoactive peptides remains the best known physiological function of ACE, the enzyme has been also implicated in a range of other physiological processes unrelated to blood pressure regulation such as immunity, reproduction and neuropeptide metabolism due to the localization of ACE and/or the in vitro cleavage of a range of biologically active peptides.

Neutral Endopeptidase (NEP, neprilysin, EC 3.4.24.11) is a zinc metalloprotease and classified as a member of the neprilysin family. NEP was first isolated from the brush border membranes of rabbit kidney. Later, an NEP-like enzyme was identified in rat brain as being involved in the degradation of the opioid peptides, enkephalins. The cloning of the ectoenzyme NEP and subsequent site-directed mutagenesis experiments have shown that, as well as having a similar specificity to thermolysin, it also has a similar active site organization. NEP also shows a thermolysin-like specificity for cleaving peptides on the N-terminal side of hydrophobic residues. With regard to the general distribution of NEP it has been determined in the brain and spinal cord, and lesion and electron microscopic studies generally support a predominantly neuronal localization of NEP, although the enzyme could be present on oligodendrocytes surrounding the fibers of the striato-pallidal and striato-nigral pathways and on Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system. NEP does not appear to be concentrated on specific membrane interfaces such as the synapse, but is rather uniformly distributed on the surface of neuronal perikarya and dendrites. In the periphery, NEP is particularly abundant in the brush border membranes of the kidney and intestine, the lymph nodes and the placenta, and is found in lower concentrations in many other tissues including the vascular wall of the aorta. By finding that the common acute lymphoblastic leukemia antigen was NEP, it was also shown in the state of the art that the enzyme is transiently present at the surface of lymphohaematopoietic cells and elevated levels are found on mature lymphocytes in certain disease states. The clinical interest in NEP, in particular the interest in NEP inhibitors as potential clinical agents derives from the actions of NEP, in conjunction with another zinc metalloprotease, the aminopeptidase N (APN, membrane alanyl aminopeptidase, EC 3.4.11.2), in degrading the enkephalins and also from its role in degrading atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). For example, it is known that dual inhibitors of NEP and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) are potent antihypertensives, resulting from simultaneously increasing the circulating levels of atrial natriuretic peptide, due to NEP inhibition, and decreasing the circulating levels of angiotensin II, due to ACE inhibition. Further interest in the clinical potential of NEP inhibitors came when the peripheral enzyme was shown to degrade the circulating natriuretic and diuretic peptide, atrial natriuretic peptide. NEP inhibitors were therefore investigated for their antihypertensive properties. From a further example it is known that inhibition of enkephalin metabolism by the synthetic NEP inhibitor, thiorphan, gave naloxone-reversible antinociceptive responses in mice. This opened the possibility that, by increasing the levels of endogenous opioids in the regions of their target receptors, an analgesia could be obtained relatively free of the side-effects of morphine or other classical opiate drugs. It was realized that in order to achieve any significant effect, other enkephalin-metabolizing enzymes also had to be inhibited, in particular the aminopeptidase N (APN). Such dual NEP/APN inhibitors completely block enkephalin metabolism and have strong antinociceptive properties.

Endothelin Converting Enzyme (ECE) catalyses the final step in the biosynthesis of the potent vasoconstrictor peptide endothelin (ET). This involves cleavage of the Trp-Val bond in the inactive intermediate, big endothelin. ECE-1 is a zinc metalloprotease which is homologous with neutral endopeptidase (NEP; neprilysin; EC 3.4.24.11, see above). Like NEP, ECE-1 is inhibited by the compound phosphoramidon and is a type II integral membrane protein. Unlike NEP, however, ECE-1 exists as a disulfide-linked dimer and is not inhibited by other NEP inhibitors such as thiorphan. Immunocytochemical studies indicate a predominant cell-surface location for ECE-1 where it exists as an ectoenzyme. ECE-1 is localized to endothelial cells and some secretory cells, e.g. .beta.-cells in the pancreas, and in smooth muscle cells. Potent and selective inhibitors of ECE, or dual inhibitors of ECE and NEP, may have therapeutic applications in cardiovascular and renal medicine. Endothelin (ET) which is a 21 amino acid bicyclic peptide containing two intramolecular disulfide bonds, is one of the most potent vasoconstricting peptides identified to date and administration to animals results in a sustained increase in blood pressure emphasizing its potential role in cardiovascular regulation. The endogenous production of ET-1 in humans contributes to the maintenance of basal vascular tone. The endothelin system and related enzymes like ECE therefore represent a likely candidate for the development of novel pharmaceutical agents. Thus, the clinical interest in ECE, in particular the interest in ECE inhibitors as potential clinical agents derives from the actions of ECE, in particular in the context of the biosynthesis of ET. Consequently, compounds showing a significant endothelin converting enzyme inhibitory activity are useful in treating and preventing various diseases which are induced or suspected to be induced by ET, such as for example, cardiovascular diseases including heart failure, angina pectoris, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, cardiac hypertrophy, hypotension, hypertension—e.g. essential hypertension, renal hypertension, or pulmonary hypertension, thrombosis, arteriosclerosis, cerebral vasospasm, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral ischemia, cerebral infarction, peripheral vascular disease, Raynaud's disease, kidney disease—e.g. renal failure; asthma; stroke, Alzheimer's disease; complication of diabetes mellitus; ulcer such as gastric ulcer; cancer such as lung cancer; endotoxin shock; sepsis; and the like. The Polypeptides of the present invention are in particular of interest in the context of cardiovascular diseases.

The IGS5 metalloprotease type enzymes of the present invention show cleavage of several vasoactive peptides such as Big ET-1, ET-1, ANP, bradykininm, Substance P and angiotensin-1, and may therefore be involved in cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, the IGS5 metalloprotease type enzymes of the present invention are characterized by their unique property to be able to cleave the neurologically relevant peptide PACAP(1-27), whereas PACAP(1-27) is not cleaved by recombinantly produced and purified NEP (Example 7), ECE-1 and XCE/DINE. The data summarized herein indicate that PACAP(1-27) might be the physiologically relevant substrate of hSEP.

PACAP and its Physiological Role

PACAP is a known biologically active peptide of the VIP/secretin/glucagon family which was discovered in 1989 [reviewed in Vaudry et al., 2000, Pharm Rev. 52, 269]. It exists in two forms, PACAP(1-27) and PACAP(1-38), both of which are physiologically active. However, the second form just harbours a C-terminal extension of the first, and the first 27 amino acids are sufficient for biological activity. The amino acid sequence of PACAP is conserved in all mammalian species investigated to date. The amino acid sequences of human PACAP(1-27), mouse PACAP(1-27), rat PACAP(1-27), guinea pig PACAP(1-27), sheep PACAP(1-27), bovine PACAP(1-27) and pig PACAP(1-27) are identical. The human sequence can e.g. be found in the Swissprot database, accession No. P18509, region from amino acids 132 to 158. In comparison, the amino acid sequence of chicken PACAP(1-27) comprises one different amino acid and can be found in the Swissprot database, accession No. P41534, region from amino acids 131 to 157.

The PACAP peptide is expressed in CNS, spinal cord, pancreas beta-cells and testis. Regional expression of PACAP in the brain is most prominent in cerebral cortex, pituitary body, amygdala complex, thalamus and brain stem (Dejda et al., 2005, Pharmacological Reports, 57, 307-320). There is convincing evidence that PACAP is a target for Parkinson's disease, as shown in various animal models (MPTP mouse model, 6-OHDA rat model, rotenone-induced mitochondrial dysfunction), as reviewed in Gonzalez-Rey et al. 2005 Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, 9, 923-929. The potential neuroprotective role of PACAP and some in vitro tests and also animal models which may be used to show the advantageous effects of IGS5 (SEP) inhibitors in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases by diminishing the endogenous cleavage of PACAP and thereby elevating the endogenous PACAP level, are also further described by Dejda et al. (2005) Pharmacol Reports, 57, 307-320; by Wang et al. (2005) FEBS Lett 579(18) 4005-11; by Reglödi et al. (2004) Behav. Brain Res., 151, 303-312; by Takei et al. (1998) J. NeuroSci. Res. 54, 698-706; by Suk et al. (2004) Brain Res 1026(1) 151-156, and by Chen et al. (2006) Regulatory Peptides, 137(1-2) 4-19.

Procedures for Obtaining Polynucleotides of the Present Invention

Polynucleotides of the present invention may be obtained, using standard cloning and screening techniques, from a cDNA library derived from mRNA in cells of human testis tissue, using the expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis (Adams, M. D., et al. Science (1991) 252:1651-1656; Adams, M. D. et al., Nature, (1992) 355:632-634; Adams, M. D., et al., Nature (1995) 377 Supp:3-174). Polynucleotides of the invention can also be obtained from natural sources such as genomic DNA libraries or can be synthesized using well known and commercially available techniques (e.g. F. M. Ausubel et al., 2000, Current Protocols in Molecular Biology).

When polynucleotides of the present invention are used for the recombinant production of polypeptides of the present invention, the polynucleotide may include the coding sequence for the mature polypeptide, by itself, or the coding sequence for the mature polypeptide in reading frame with other coding sequences, such as those encoding a leader or secretory sequence, a pre-, or pro- or prepro-protein sequence, or other fusion peptide portions. For example, a marker sequence which facilitates purification of the fused polypeptide can be encoded. In certain preferred embodiments of this aspect of the invention, the marker sequence is a hexa-histidine peptide, as provided in the pQE vector (Qiagen, Inc.) and described in Gentz et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1989) 86:821-824, or is an HA tag. The polynucleotide may also contain non-coding 5′ and 3′ sequences, such as transcribed, non-translated sequences, splicing and polyadenylation signals, ribosome binding sites and sequences that stabilize mRNA.

Further embodiments of the present invention include polynucleotides encoding polypeptide variants which comprise one of the amino acid sequences selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6, and in which several, for instance from 5 to 10, 1 to 5, 1 to 3, 1 to 2 or 1, amino acid residues are substituted, deleted or added, in any combination.

Polynucleotides which are identical or sufficiently identical to a nucleotide sequence contained in one of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5, may be used as hybridization probes for cDNA and genomic DNA or as primers for a nucleic acid amplification (PCR) reaction, to isolate full-length cDNAs and genomic clones encoding polypeptides of the present invention and to isolate cDNA and genomic clones of other genes (including genes encoding paralogs from human sources and orthologs and paralogs from species other than human) that have a high sequence similarity to one of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5. Typically these nucleotide sequences are at least 70% identical, preferably at least 80% and in particular at least 85% identical, more preferably at least 90% identical, still more preferably at least 95%, still more preferably at least 96%, still more preferably at least 97%, still more preferably at least 98%, still more preferably at least 99%, identical to that of the referent. The probes or primers will generally comprise at least 15 nucleotides, preferably, at least 30 nucleotides and may have at least 50 nucleotides. Particularly preferred probes will have between 30 and 50 nucleotides. Particularly preferred primers will have between 20 and 25 nucleotides.

A polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the present invention, including homologs and orthologs from species other than human, may be obtained by a process which comprises the steps of screening an appropriate library under stringent hybridization conditions with a labeled probe having the sequence of one of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5, or a fragment thereof; and isolating full-length cDNA and genomic clones containing said polynucleotide sequence. Such hybridization techniques are well known to the skilled artisan. Preferred stringent hybridization conditions include overnight incubation at 42° C. in a solution comprising: 50% formamide, 5×SSC (150 mM NaCl, 15 mM trisodium citrate), 50 mM sodium phosphate (pH 7.6), 5×Denhardt's solution, 10% dextran sulfate (w/v), and 20 microgram/ml denatured, sheared salmon sperm DNA; followed by washing the filters in 0.1×SSC at about 65° C. Thus the present invention also includes polynucleotides obtainable by screening an appropriate library under stringent hybridization conditions with a labeled probe having the sequence of one of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5, or a fragment thereof.

The skilled artisan will appreciate that, in many cases, an isolated cDNA sequence will be incomplete, in that the region coding for the polypeptide is cut short at the 5′ end of the cDNA. This is a consequence of reverse transcriptase, an enzyme with inherently low “processivity” (a measure of the ability of the enzyme to remain attached to the template during the polymerisation reaction), failing to complete a DNA copy of the mRNA template during 1st strand cDNA synthesis.

There are several methods available and well known to those skilled in the art to obtain full-length cDNAs, or extend short cDNAs, for example those based on the method of Rapid Amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) (see, for example, Frohman et al., PNAS USA 85, 8998-9002, 1988). Recent modifications of the technique, exemplified by the Marathon™ technology (Clontech Laboratories Inc.) for example, have significantly simplified the search for longer cDNAs. In the Marathon™ technology, cDNAs have been prepared from mRNA extracted from a chosen tissue and an “adaptor” sequence ligated onto each end. Nucleic acid amplification (PCR) is then carried out to amplify the “missing” 5′ end of the cDNA using a combination of gene specific and adaptor specific oligonucleotide primers. The PCR reaction is then repeated using “nested” primers, that is, primers designed to anneal within the amplified product (typically an adaptor specific primer that anneals further 3′ in the adaptor sequence and a gene specific primer that anneals further 5′ in the known gene sequence). The products of this reaction can then be analyzed by DNA sequencing and a full-length cDNA constructed either by joining the product directly to the existing cDNA to give a complete sequence, or carrying out a separate full-length PCR using the new sequence information for the design of the 5′ primer.

Vectors, Host Cells, Expression

Recombinant polypeptides of the present invention may be prepared by processes well known in the art from genetically engineered host cells comprising expression systems. Accordingly, in a further aspect, the present invention relates to expression systems which comprise a polynucleotide or polynucleotides of the present invention, to host cells which are genetically engineered with such expression systems and to the production of polypeptides of the invention by recombinant techniques. Cell-free translation systems can also be employed to produce such proteins using RNAs derived from the DNA constructs of the present invention.

For recombinant production, host cells can be genetically engineered to incorporate expression systems or portions thereof for polynucleotides of the present invention. Introduction of polynucleotides into host cells can be effected by methods described in many standard laboratory manuals, such as Davis et al., Basic Methods in Molecular Biology (1986) and Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989). Preferred such methods include, for instance, calcium phosphate transfection, DEAE-dextran mediated transfection, transvection, microinjection, cationic lipid-mediated transfection, electroporation, transduction, scrape loading, ballistic introduction or infection.

Representative examples of appropriate hosts include bacterial cells, such as Streptococci, Staphylococci, E. coli, Streptomyces and Bacillus subtilis cells; fungal cells, such as yeast cells and Aspergillus cells; insect cells such as Drosophila 52 and Spodoptera Sf9 cells; animal cells such as CHO, COS, HeLa, C127, 3T3, BHK, HEK 293 and Bowes melanoma cells; and plant cells.

A great variety of expression systems can be used, for instance, chromosomal, episomal and virus-derived systems, e.g., vectors derived from bacterial plasmids, from bacteriophage, from transposons, from yeast episomes, from insertion elements, from yeast chromosomal elements, from viruses such as baculoviruses, papova viruses, such as SV40, vaccinia viruses, adenoviruses, fowl pox viruses, pseudorabies viruses and retroviruses, and vectors derived from combinations thereof, such as those derived from plasmid and bacteriophage genetic elements, such as cosmids and phagemids. The expression systems may contain control regions that regulate as well as engender expression. Generally, any system or vector which is able to maintain, propagate or express a polynucleotide to produce a polypeptide in a host may be used. The appropriate nucleotide sequence may be inserted into an expression system by any of a variety of well-known and routine techniques, such as, for example, those set forth in Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual (supra). Appropriate secretion signals may be incorporated into the desired polypeptide to allow secretion of the translated protein into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum, the periplasmic space or the extracellular environment. These signals may be endogenous to the polypeptide or they may be heterologous signals, i.e. derived from a different species. If a polypeptide of the present invention is to be expressed for use in screening assays, it is generally possible that the polypeptide be produced at the surface of the cell or alternatively in a soluble protein form. If the polypeptide is secreted into the medium, the medium can be recovered in order to recover and purify the polypeptide. If produced intracellularly, the cells must first be lysed before the polypeptide is recovered. If the polypeptide is bound at the surface of the cell (membrane bound polypeptide), usually membrane fractions are prepared in order to accumulate the membrane bound polypeptide.

Polypeptides of the present invention can be recovered and purified from recombinant cell cultures by well-known methods including ammonium sulfate or ethanol precipitation, acid extraction, anion or cation exchange chromatography, phosphocellulose chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, affinity chromatography, hydroxylapatite chromatography and lectin chromatography. Most preferably, high performance liquid chromatography is employed for purification. Well known techniques for refolding proteins may be employed to regenerate active conformation when the polypeptide is denatured during intracellular synthesis, isolation and or purification.

Diagnostic Assays

This invention also relates to the use of polynucleotides of the present invention as diagnostic reagents. Detection of a mutated form of the gene characterized by one of the polynucleotides selected from the group of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 and SEQ ID NO:5, which is associated with a dysfunction will provide a diagnostic tool that can add to, or define, a diagnosis of a disease, or susceptibility to a disease, which results from under-expression, over-expression or altered spatial or temporal expression of the gene. Individuals carrying mutations in the gene may be detected at the DNA level by a variety of techniques.

Nucleic acids for diagnosis may be obtained from a subject's cells, such as from blood, urine, saliva, tissue biopsy or autopsy material. The genomic DNA may be used directly for detection or may be amplified enzymatically by using PCR or other amplification techniques prior to analysis. RNA or cDNA may also be used in similar fashion. Deletions and insertions can be detected by a change in size of the amplified product in comparison to the normal genotype. Point mutations can be identified by hybridizing amplified DNA to labeled IGS5 nucleotide sequences. Perfectly matched sequences can be distinguished from mismatched duplexes by RNase digestion or by differences in melting temperatures. DNA sequence differences may also be detected by alterations in electrophoretic mobility of DNA fragments in gels, with or without denaturing agents, or by direct DNA sequencing (ee, e.g., Myers et al., Science (1985) 230:1242). Sequence changes at specific locations may also be revealed by nuclease protection assays, such as RNase and S1 protection or the chemical cleavage method (see Cotton et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1985) 85: 4397-4401).

In another embodiment, an array of oligonucleotides probes comprising IGS5 nucleotide sequence or fragments thereof can be constructed to conduct efficient screening of e.g., genetic mutations. Array technology methods are well known and have general applicability and can be used to address a variety of questions in molecular genetics including gene expression, genetic linkage, and genetic variability (see for example: M. Chee et al., Science, Vol 274, pp 610-613 (1996)).

The diagnostic assays offer a process for diagnosing or determining a susceptibility to the Diseases through detection of mutation in the IGS5 gene by the methods described. In addition, such diseases may be diagnosed by methods comprising determining from a sample derived from a subject an abnormally decreased or increased level of polypeptide or mRNA. Decreased or increased expression can be measured at the RNA level using any of the methods well known in the art for the quantitation of polynucleotides, such as, for example, nucleic acid amplification, for instance PCR, RT-PCR, RNase protection, Northern blotting and other hybridization methods. Assay techniques that can be used to determine levels of a protein, such as a polypeptide of the present invention, in a sample derived from a host are well-known to those of skill in the art. Such assay methods include radio-immuno-assays, competitive-binding assays, Western Blot analysis and ELISA assays. Thus in another aspect, the present invention relates to a diagnostic kit which comprises:

-   (a) a polynucleotide of the present invention, preferably the     nucleotide sequence of one of SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID     NO:5, or a fragment thereof; -   (b) a nucleotide sequence complementary to that of (a); -   (c) a polypeptide of the present invention, preferably the     polypeptide of one of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6, or a     fragment thereof; or -   (d) an antibody to a polypeptide of the present invention,     preferably to one of the polypeptides of SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO:4     or SEQ ID NO: 6.

It will be appreciated that in any such kit, the component (a), (b), (c) or (d) may constitute a substantial component of said diagnostic kit. Such a kit will be of use in diagnosing a disease or susceptibility to a disease, particularly amongst others a disease as indicated above in the context of the polypeptides of the present invention.

In this regard, the invention also refers to a method of diagnosing a CNS disease or susceptibility to a CNS disease in a mammalian subject, wherein the disease is related to the expression or activity of a polypeptide having a zinc metallopeptidase activity and comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6, the method comprising one or more of the following steps:

-   (a) determining the presence or absence of a mutation in the     nucleotide sequence encoding said polypeptide in the genome of said     subject; and/or -   (b) comparing the level of expression of said polypeptide in a     sample derived from said subject with a standard base level.

The diagnosis method is preferably used to diagnose a CNS disorder or disease which is selected from the group consisting of Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, Huntington's disease, stroke, cerebral ischemia and other neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, wherein the neurodegenerative disease is selected from the group consisting of ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, retinitis pigmentosa, mild cognitive impairment, Pick's disease, senile dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, subcortical dementias, Wilson disease, multiple infarct disease, arteriosclerotic dementia, AIDS associated dementia, cerebellar degeneration, spinocerebellar degeneration syndromes, Friedreichs ataxia, ataxia telangiectasia, epilepsy related brain damage, spinal cord injury, restless legs syndrome, striatonigral degeneration, cerebral vasculitis, mitochondrial encephalo-myopathies, neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, spinal muscular atrophies, lysosomal storage disorders with central nervous system involvement, leukodystrophies, urea cycle defect disorders, hepatic encephalopathies, renal encephalopathies, metabolic encephalopathies, porphyria, bacterial or viral meningitis and meningoencephalitis, prion diseases, poisonings with neurotoxic compounds, Guillain Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory neuropathies, polymyositis, dermatomyositis and radiation-induced brain damage.

Chromosome Assays

The nucleotide sequences of the present invention are also valuable for chromosome localization. The sequence is specifically targeted to, and can hybridize with, a particular location on an individual human chromosome. The mapping of relevant sequences to chromosomes according to the present invention is an important first step in correlating those sequences with gene associated disease. Once a sequence has been mapped to a precise chromosomal location, the physical position of the sequence on the chromosome can be correlated with genetic map data. Such data are found in, for example, V. McKusick, Mendelian Inheritance in Man (available on-line through Johns Hopkins University Welch Medical Library). The relationship between genes and diseases that have been mapped to the same chromosomal region are then identified through linkage analysis (coinheritance of physically adjacent genes). The differences in the cDNA or genomic sequence between affected and unaffected individuals can also be determined. If a mutation is observed in some or all of the affected individuals but not in any normal individuals, then the mutation is likely to be the causative agent of the disease.

Tissue Localization

The nucleotide sequences of the present invention are also valuable for tissue localization. Such techniques allow the determination of expression patterns of the IGS5 polypeptides in tissues by detection of the mRNAs that encode them. These techniques include in situ hybridization techniques and nucleotide amplification techniques, for example PCR. Such techniques are well known in the art. Results from these studies provide an indication of the normal functions of the polypeptides in the organism. In addition, comparative studies of the normal expression pattern of IGS5 mRNAs with that of mRNAs encoded by a IGS5 gene provide valuable insights into the role of mutant IGS5 polypeptides, or that of inappropriate expression of normal IGS5 polypeptides, in disease. Such inappropriate expression may be of a temporal, spatial or simply quantitative nature.

The polypeptides of the invention or their fragments or analogs thereof, or cells expressing them, can also be used as immunogens to produce antibodies immunospecific for polypeptides of the present invention. The term “immunospecific” means that the antibodies have substantially greater affinity for the polypeptides of the invention than their affinity for other related polypeptides in the prior art.

Antibodies

Antibodies generated against polypeptides of the present invention may be obtained by administering the polypeptides or epitope-bearing fragments, analogs or cells to an animal, preferably a non-human animal, using routine protocols. For preparation of monoclonal antibodies, any technique which provides antibodies produced by continuous cell line cultures can be used. Examples include the hybridoma technique (Kohler, G. and Milstein, C., Nature (1975) 256:495-497), the trioma technique, the human B-cell hybridoma technique (Kozbor et al., Immunology Today (1983) 4:72) and the EBV-hybridoma technique (Cole et al., Monoclonal Antibodies and Cancer Therapy, 77-96, Alan R. Liss, Inc., 1985). Techniques for the production of single chain antibodies, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,778, can also be adapted to produce single chain antibodies to polypeptides of this invention. Also, transgenic mice, or other organisms, including other mammals, may be used to express humanized antibodies. The above-described antibodies may be employed to isolate or to identify clones expressing the polypeptide or to purify the polypeptides by affinity chromatography. Antibodies against polypeptides of the present invention may also be employed to treat the diseases as indicated above, amongst others.

Fusion Proteins

In a further aspect, the present invention relates to genetically engineered soluble fusion proteins comprising a polypeptide of the present invention, or a fragment thereof, and various portions of the constant regions of heavy or light chains of immunoglobulins of various subclasses (IgG, IgM, IgA, IgE). Preferred as an immunoglobulin is the constant part of the heavy chain of human IgG, particularly IgG1, where fusion takes place at the hinge region. In a particular embodiment, the Fc part can be removed simply by incorporation of a cleavage sequence which can be cleaved with blood clotting factor Xa. Furthermore, this invention relates to processes for the preparation of these fusion proteins by genetic engineering, and to the use thereof for drug screening, diagnosis and therapy. A further aspect of the invention also relates to polynucleotides encoding such fusion proteins. Examples of fusion protein technology can be found in International Patent Application Nos. WO94/29458 and WO94/22914.

Vaccines

Another aspect of the invention relates to a method for inducing an immunological response in a mammal which comprises administering to (for example by inoculation) the mammal a polypeptide of the present invention, adequate to produce antibody and/or T cell immune response to protect said animal from the Diseases hereinbefore mentioned, amongst others.

Yet another aspect of the invention relates to a method of inducing immunological response in a mammal which comprises, delivering a polypeptide of the present invention via a vector directing expression of the polynucleotide and coding for the polypeptide in vivo in order to induce such an immunological response to produce antibody to protect said animal from diseases.

A further aspect of the invention relates to an immunological/vaccine formulation (composition) which, when introduced into a mammalian host, induces an immunological response in that mammal to a polypeptide of the present invention wherein the composition comprises a polypeptide or polynucleotide of the present invention. Such immunological/vaccine formulations (compositions) may be either therapeutic immunological/vaccine formulations or prophylactic immunological/vaccine formulations. The vaccine formulation may further comprise a suitable carrier. Since a polypeptide may be broken down in the stomach, it is preferably administered parenterally (for instance, subcutaneous, intramuscular, intravenous, or intradermal injection). Formulations suitable for parenteral administration include aqueous and non-aqueous sterile injection solutions which may contain anti-oxidants, buffers, bacteriostats and solutes which render the formulation isotonic with the blood of the recipient; and aqueous and non-aqueous sterile suspensions which may include suspending agents or thickening agents. The formulations may be presented in unit-dose or multi-dose containers, for example, sealed ampoules and vials and may be stored in a freeze-dried condition requiring only the addition of the sterile liquid carrier immediately prior to use. The vaccine formulation may also include adjuvant systems for enhancing the immunogenicity of the formulation, such as oil-in water systems and other systems known in the art. The dosage will depend on the specific activity of the vaccine and can be readily determined by routine experimentation.

Screening Assays

Polypeptides of the present invention are responsible for one or more biological functions, including one or more disease states, in particular the Diseases hereinbefore mentioned. It is therefore desirous to devise screening methods to identify compounds which stimulate or which inhibit the function of the polypeptide. Accordingly, in a further aspect, the present invention provides for a method of screening compounds to identify those which stimulate or which inhibit the function of the polypeptide. Compounds may be identified from a variety of sources, for example, cells, cell-free preparations, chemical libraries, and natural product mixtures. Such stimulators or inhibitors so-identified may be natural or modified substrates, ligands, receptors, enzymes, etc., as the case may be, of the polypeptide; or may be structural or functional mimetics thereof (see Coligan et al., Current Protocols in Immunology 1(2):Chapter 5 (1991)).

The screening method may simply measure the influence of a candidate compound on the activity of the polypeptide, or on cells or membranes bearing the polypeptide. Alternatively, the screening method may involve competition with a competitor. Further, these screening methods may test whether the candidate compound results in a signal generated by activation or inhibition of the polypeptide, using detection systems appropriate to the activity of the polypeptide or to the cells or membranes bearing the polypeptide. Inhibition of polypeptide activity is generally assayed in the presence of a known substrate and the effect of the candidate compound is observed by altered activity, e.g. by testing whether the candidate compound results in inhibition or stimulation of the polypeptide. For example, the screening methods may simply comprise the steps of mixing a candidate compound with a solution containing a polypeptide of the present invention, and a suitable substrate to form a mixture, measuring IGS5 activity in the mixture, and comparing the IGS5 activity of the mixture to a standard without candidate compound.

The polynucleotides, polypeptides and antibodies to the polypeptide of the present invention may also be used to configure screening methods for detecting the effect of added compounds on the production of mRNA and polypeptide in cells. For example, an ELISA assay may be constructed for measuring secreted or cell associated levels of polypeptide using monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies by standard methods known in the art. This can be used to discover agents which may inhibit or enhance the production of polypeptide from suitably manipulated cells or tissues. Examples of potential polypeptide inhibitors include antibodies or, in some cases, oligonucleotides or proteins which are closely related to the ligands, substrates, receptors, enzymes, etc., as the case may be, of the polypeptide, e.g., a fragment of the ligands, substrates, receptors, enzymes, etc.; or small molecules which bind to the polypeptide of the present invention but do not elicit a response, so that the activity of the polypeptide is prevented. Thus, in another aspect, the present invention relates to a screening kit for identifying in particular inhibitors, stimulators, ligands, receptors, substrates, enzymes, etc. for polypeptides of the present invention; or compounds which decrease or enhance the production of such polypeptides, which comprises:

-   (a) a polypeptide of the present invention; -   (b) a recombinant cell expressing a polypeptide of the present     invention; -   (c) a cell membrane expressing a polypeptide of the present     invention; or -   (d) an antibody to a polypeptide of the present invention; which     polypeptide is preferably one of that of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or     SEQ ID NO:6.     It will be appreciated that in any such kit, the component (a),     (b), (c) or (d) may constitute a substantial part of said kit.

It will be readily appreciated by the skilled artisan that a polypeptide of the present invention may also be used in a method for the structure-based design of a stimulator or inhibitor of the polypeptide, by:

-   (a) determining in the first instance the three-dimensional     structure of the polypeptide; -   (b) deducing the three-dimensional structure for the likely reactive     or binding site(s) of a stimulator or inhibitor; -   (c) synthesizing candidate compounds that are predicted to bind to     or react with the deduced binding or reactive site; and -   (d) testing whether the candidate compounds are indeed stimulators     or inhibitors.     It will be further appreciated that this will normally be an     iterative process.

With regard to the specific activity of IGS5 to cleave the physiologically relevant peptide PACAP(1-27) and the implications derived therefrom, that inhibition of IGS5 enzyme activity may have beneficial effects in the treatment of CNS disorders, in particular neurodegenerative CNS disorders such as Parkinson's disease, and/or in the treatment of metabolic diseases such as Diabetes mellitus type II, the IGS5 polypeptides of the invention may be used in a method for in vitro screening for a compound which inhibits or decreases the activity of an IGS5 polypeptide having a zinc metallopeptidase activity and comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least 80% when compared to SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6, the method comprising the steps of:

-   (a) contacting a preparation comprising said IGS5 polypeptide,     preferably a preparation comprising a cell expressing said IGS5     polypeptide, with a candidate compound; and -   (b) assessing whether the candidate compound results in a inhibition     of the activity of the polypeptide,     wherein a test compound which decreases or inhibits said activity is     identified as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of a     CNS disorder or disease and/or a metabolic disorder or disease.

In this method the candidate compound is preferably mixed with a solution containing the IGS5 polypeptide and a suitable substrate to form a mixture, then an activity of the polypeptide in the mixture with regard to the substrate is measured and the measured activity is compared with the activity of the polypeptide in a control solution without the candidate compound.

In all screening methods described herein, the IGS5 polypeptide preferably comprises an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least 90% when compared to SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6, and more preferably the IGS5 polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group of

-   (i) an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least     99% when compared to SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6; or -   (ii) an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least     95% when compared to SEQ ID NO:2;     and even more preferably the IGS5 polypeptide consists of an amino     acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ     ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6.

Furthermore, the invention relates to an in vitro screening method to identify therapeutic agents for the treatment of a CNS disorder or disease in a mammal, wherein the method screens for therapeutic agents, which inhibit or decrease a biological activity of an IGS5 polypeptide having a zinc metallopeptidase activity and comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least 80% when compared to SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6, the method comprising the steps of

-   (i) providing a test compound; -   (ii) contacting the test compound with a preparation comprising said     IGS5 polypeptide; -   (iii) assaying the biological activity of said IGS5 polypeptide in     presence and absence and/or at different concentrations of said test     compound, -   (iv) optionally assaying said biological activity in the presence of     a compound known to be a inhibitor of said IGS5 polypeptide,     wherein a test compound which decreases or inhibits said biological     activity is identified as a potential therapeutic agent for the     treatment of a CNS disorder or disease, which CNS disorder or     disease is preferably selected from the group consisting of     Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease,     Huntington's disease, stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases.

In one embodiment, the biological activity of the IGS5 polypeptide is assayed by measuring the influence of the test compound on the activity of the IGS5 polypeptide in the presence of a suitable substrate. This substrate is preferably PACAP(1-27). Accordingly, the biological activity of the IGS5 polypeptide is preferably assayed by measuring the degree of PACAP(1-27) degradation.

If a compound known to be an inhibitor of said IGS5 polypeptide is used in a screening method described herein for reference purposes, this inhibitor can be chosen from compounds as e.g. described within international applications WO02094176 or WO2005030795; preferably the compound known to be an inhibitor of the IGS5 polypeptide is Phosphoramidon.

Furthermore, the invention relates to an in vitro screening method to identify therapeutic agents for the treatment of a CNS disorder or disease in a mammal, wherein the method screens for therapeutic agents, which inhibit or decrease a biological activity of an IGS5 polypeptide having a zinc metallopeptidase activity and comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least 80% when compared to SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6, the method comprising the steps of

-   (i) providing a test compound; -   (ii) contacting the test compound with said IGS5 polypeptide in the     presence of PACAP(1-27), -   (iii) measuring the degree of PACAP(1-27) degradation, and -   (iv) comparing the degree of PACAP(1-27) degradation by said IGS5     polypeptide in presence and absence and/or at different     concentrations of said test compound, -   (v) optionally assaying the degree of PACAP(1-27) degradation in the     presence of a compound known to be a inhibitor of said IGS5     polypeptide,     wherein a test compound which induces a lower degree of PACAP(1-27)     degradation is identified as a potential therapeutic agent for the     treatment of a CNS disorder or disease.

In all screening methods described herein, the PACAP(1-27) used is preferably selected from the group consisting of human PACAP(1-27), mouse PACAP(1-27), rat PACAP(1-27), guinea pig PACAP(1-27), sheep PACAP(1-27), bovine PACAP(1-27), chicken PACAP(1-27) and pig PACAP(1-27), more preferably the PACAP(1-27) used is human PACAP(1-27), and even more preferably the PACAP(1-27) has the amino acid sequence His-Ser-Asp-Gly-Ile-Phe-Thr-Asp-Ser-Tyr-Ser-Arg-Tyr-Arg-Lys-Gln-Met-Ala-Val-Lys-Lys-Tyr-Leu-Ala-Ala-Val-Leu (3 letter code) (SEQ ID NO: 32).

In further embodiments of the screening methods as described herein, the following modifications may be carried out:

-   (i) the IGS5 polypeptide comprises at least one IGS5 fusion protein,     and/or -   (ii) the step of contacting is in or at the surface of a cell,     and/or -   (iii) the step of contacting is in a cell-free system, and/or -   (iv) the IGS5 polypeptide is provided i) as isolated protein, or ii)     in the form of an intact cell or cell extracts comprising said IGS5     polypeptide protein, and/or -   (v) the IGS5 polypeptide, the test compound and/or the PACAP(1-27)     are coupled to a detectable label, and/or -   (vi) the IGS5 polypeptide is attached to a solid support; and/or -   (vii) the degree of PACAP(1-27) degradation is analyzed by HPLC     technology, and/or -   (viii) the PACAP(1-27) is coupled to a detectable fluorescent label     and the degree of PACAP(1-27) degradation is analyzed by FRET     technology.     Prophylactic and Therapeutic Methods

In a further aspect, the present invention provides methods of treating abnormal conditions such as, for instance, those dysfunctions, disorders or diseases to be treated, hereinabove generally referred to as “the diseases” in the context of the polypeptides of the present invention, related to either an excess of, or an under-expression of IGS5 polypeptide activity.

If the activity of the polypeptide is in excess, several approaches are available. One approach comprises administering to a subject in need thereof an inhibitor compound as hereinabove described, optionally in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, in an amount effective to inhibit the function of the polypeptide, such as, for example, by blocking the binding of substrates, enzymes, etc., and thereby alleviating the abnormal condition. In another approach, soluble forms of the polypeptides still capable of binding the substrate, enzymes, etc. in competition with endogenous polypeptide may be administered. Typical examples of such competitors include fragments of the IGS5 polypeptide.

With regard to the specific activity of IGS5 to cleave the physiologically relevant peptide PACAP(1-27), a therapeutic approach comprises a method of treating a mammalian subject having need of maintaining or increasing PACAP(1-27) levels by administering to said subject a therapeutically effective amount of a compound inhibiting or decreasing activity of an IGS5 polypeptide as described herein. Alternatively, the invention relates to a method for the treatment of a disease or disorder associated with decreased or insufficient levels of PACAP(1-27) in a mammalian subject, the method comprising administering to said subject a therapeutically effective amount of a compound inhibiting or decreasing activity of an IGS5 polypeptide as described herein.

With regard to the specific activity of IGS5 to cleave the physiologically relevant peptide PACAP(1-27), a therapeutic approach comprises a method for the treatment of a CNS disorder or disease in a mammalian subject, the method comprising administering to said subject a therapeutically effective amount of a compound inhibiting or decreasing activity of an IGS5 polypeptide as described herein. The CNS disorder or disease is preferably selected from the group consisting of Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, Huntington's disease, stroke, cerebral ischemia and other neurodegenerative diseases, and the neurodegenerative disease are preferably selected from the group consisting of ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, retinitis pigmentosa, mild cognitive impairment, Pick's disease, senile dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, subcortical dementias, Wilson disease, multiple infarct disease, arteriosclerotic dementia, AIDS associated dementia, cerebellar degeneration, spinocerebellar degeneration syndromes, Friedreichs ataxia, ataxia telangiectasia, epilepsy related brain damage, spinal cord injury, restless legs syndrome, striatonigral degeneration, cerebral vasculitis, mitochondrial encephalo-myopathies, neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, spinal muscular atrophies, lysosomal storage disorders with central nervous system involvement, leukodystrophies, urea cycle defect disorders, hepatic encephalopathies, renal encephalopathies, metabolic encephalopathies, porphyria, bacterial or viral meningitis and meningoencephalitis, prion diseases, poisonings with neurotoxic compounds, Guillain Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory neuropathies, polymyositis, dermatomyositis and radiation-induced brain damage.

When talking about a compound inhibiting or diminishing activity of the IGS5 polypeptide, this compound preferably is a selective inhibitor of said IGS5 polypeptide as described herewithin, in particular a compound inhibiting or diminishing activity of said IGS5 polypeptide but not inhibiting or diminishing the activity of a NEP polypeptide and/or ECE-1 polypeptide.

In the context of therapeutic approaches with regard to the IGS5 polypeptide of the invention, this IGS5 polypeptide preferably has a zinc metallopeptidase activity and comprises an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least 80% when compared to SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6. In particular, said IGS5 polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group of

-   (i) an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least     99% when compared to SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6; or -   (ii) an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least     95% when compared to SEQ ID NO:2.

With regard to the specific activity of IGS5 to cleave the physiologically relevant peptide PACAP(1-27) and its acknowledged role in Diabetes, a further therapeutic approach comprises a method for the treatment of a metabolic disorder or disease in a mammalian subject, the method comprising administering to said subject a therapeutically effective amount of a compound inhibiting or decreasing activity of an IGS5 polypeptide having a zinc metallopeptidase activity and comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of at least 80% when compared to SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6. The metabolic disorder or disease is selected from the group consisting of Diabetes mellitus type II, insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, ketosis, acidosis, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia.

In still another approach, expression of the gene encoding endogenous IGS5 polypeptide can be inhibited using expression blocking techniques. Known such techniques involve the use of antisense sequences, either internally generated or separately administered (see, for example, O'Connor, J. Neurochem. (1991) 56:560 in Oligodeoxynucleotides as Antisense Inhibitors of Gene Expression, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla. (1988)). Alternatively, oligonucleotides which form triple helices (“triplexes”) with the gene can be supplied (see, for example, Lee et al., Nucleic Acids Res (1979) 6:3073; Cooney et al., Science (1988) 241:456; Dervan et al., Science (1991) 251:1360). These oligomers can be administered per se or the relevant oligomers can be expressed in vivo. Synthetic antisense or triplex oligonucleotides may comprise modified bases or modified backbones. Examples of the latter include methylphosphonate, phosphorothioate or peptide nucleic acid backbones. Such backbones are incorporated in the antisense or triplex oligonucleotide in order to provide protection from degradation by nucleases and are well known in the art. Antisense and triplex molecules synthesized with these or other modified backbones also form part of the present invention.

In addition, expression of the IGS5 polypeptide may be prevented by using ribozymes specific to the IGS5 mRNA sequence. Ribozymes are catalytically active RNAs that can be natural or synthetic (see for example Usman, N, et al., Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol (1996) 6(4), 527-33.) Synthetic ribozymes can be designed to specifically cleave IGS5 mRNAs at selected positions thereby preventing translation of the IGS5 mRNAs into functional polypeptide. Ribozymes may be synthesized with a natural ribose phosphate backbone and natural bases, as normally found in RNA molecules. Alternatively the ribosymes may be synthesized with non-natural backbones to provide protection from ribonuclease degradation, for example, 2′-O-methyl RNA, and may contain modified bases.

For treating abnormal conditions related to an under-expression of IGS5 and its activity, several approaches are also available. One approach comprises administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of a compound which stimulates a polypeptide of the present invention in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, to thereby alleviate the abnormal condition. Alternatively, gene therapy may be employed to effect the endogenous production of IGS5 by the relevant cells in the subject. For example, a polynucleotide of the invention may be engineered for expression in a replication defective retroviral vector, as discussed above. The retroviral expression construct may then be isolated and introduced into a packaging cell transduced with a retroviral plasmid vector containing RNA encoding a polypeptide of the present invention such that the packaging cell now produces infectious viral particles containing the gene of interest. These producer cells may be administered to a subject for engineering cells in vivo and expression of the polypeptide in vivo. For an overview of gene therapy, see Chapter 20, Gene Therapy and other Molecular Genetic-based Therapeutic Approaches, (and references cited therein) in Human Molecular Genetics, T Strachan and A P Read, BIOS Scientific Publishers Ltd (1996). Another approach is to administer a therapeutic amount of a polypeptide of the present invention in combination with a suitable pharmaceutical carrier.

Formulation and Administration

In a further aspect, the present invention provides for pharmaceutical compositions comprising a therapeutically effective amount of a polypeptide, such as the soluble form of a polypeptide of the present invention, stimulating or inhibiting peptide or small molecule compound, in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient. Such carriers include, but are not limited to, saline, buffered saline, dextrose, water, glycerol, ethanol, and combinations thereof. The invention further relates to pharmaceutical packs and kits comprising one or more containers filled with one or more of the ingredients of the aforementioned compositions of the invention. Polypeptides and other compounds of the present invention may be employed alone or in conjunction with other compounds, such as therapeutic compounds.

The composition will be adapted to the route of administration, for instance by a systemic or an oral route. Preferred forms of systemic administration include injection, typically by intravenous injection. Other injection routes, such as subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intraperitoneal, can be used. Alternative means for systemic administration include transmucosal and transdermal administration using penetrants such as bile salts or fusidic acids or other detergents. In addition, if a polypeptide or other compounds of the present invention can be formulated in an enteric or an encapsulated formulation, oral administration may also be possible. Administration of these compounds may also be topical and/or localized, in the form of salves, pastes, gels, and the like.

The dosage range required depends on the choice of peptide or other compounds of the present invention, the route of administration, the nature of the formulation, the nature of the subject's condition, and the judgment of the attending practitioner. Suitable dosages, however, are in the range of 0.1-100 μg/kg of subject. Wide variations in the needed dosage, however, are to be expected in view of the variety of compounds available and the differing efficiencies of various routes of administration. For example, oral administration would be expected to require higher dosages than administration by intravenous injection. Variations in these dosage levels can be adjusted using standard empirical routines for optimization, as is well understood in the art.

Polypeptides used in treatment can also be generated endogenously in the subject, in treatment modalities often referred to as “gene therapy” as described above. Thus, for example, cells from a subject may be engineered with a polynucleotide, such as a DNA or RNA, to encode a polypeptide ex vivo, and for example, by the use of a retroviral plasmid vector. The cells are then introduced into the subject. Polynucleotide and polypeptide sequences form a valuable information resource with which it is possible to identify further sequences of similar homology. This is most easily facilitated by storing the sequence in a computer readable medium and then using the stored data to search a sequence database using well known searching tools, such as those in the GCC and Lasergene software packages. Accordingly, in a further aspect, the present invention provides for a computer readable medium having stored thereon a polynucleotide comprising the sequences of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5 and/or a polypeptide sequence encoded thereby. All publications, including but not limited to patents and patent applications, cited in this specification are herein incorporated by reference as if each individual publication were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference herein as though fully set forth.

The following examples are only intended to further illustrate the invention, in more detail, and therefore these examples are not deemed to restrict the scope of the invention in any way.

TABLE 1 IGS5-DNA (“IGS5DNA”) of SEQ ID NO: 1 5′-TGCACCACCCCTGGCTGCGTGATAGCAGCTGCCAGGATCCTCCAGAA CATGGACCCGACCACGGAACCGTGTGACGACTTCTACCAGTTTGCATGCG GAGGCTGGCTGCGGCGCCACGTGATCCCTGAGACCAACTCAAGATACAGC ATCTTTGACGTCCTCCGCGACGAGCTGGAGGTCATCCTCAAAGCGGTGCT GGAGAATTCGACTGCCAAGGACCGGCCGGCTGTGGAGAAGGCCAGGACGC TGTACCGCTCCTGCATGAACCAGAGTGTGATAGAGAAGCGAGGCTCTCAG CCCCTGCTGGACATCTTGGAGGTGGTGGGAGGCTGGCCGGTGGCGATGGA CAGGTGGAACGAGACCGTAGGACTCGAGTGGGAGCTGGAGCGGCAGCTGG CGCTGATGAACTCACAGTTCAACAGGCGCGTCCTCATCGACCTCTTCATC TGGAACGACGACCAGAACTCCAGCCGGCACATCATCTACATAGACCAGCC CACCTTGGGCATGCCCTCCCGAGAGTACTACTTCAACGGCGGCAGCAACC GGAAGGTGCGGGAAGCCTACCTGCAGTTCATGGTGTCAGTGGCCACGTTG CTGCGGGAGGATGCAAACCTGCCCAGGGACAGCTGCCTGGTGCAGGAGGA CATGATGCAGGTGCTGGAGCTGGAGACACAGCTGGCCAAGGCCACGGTAC CCCAGGAGGAGAGACACGACGTCATCGCCTTGTACCACCGGATGGGACTG GAGGAGCTGCAAAGCCAGTTTGGCCTGAAGGGATTTAACTGGACTCTGTT CATACAAACTGTGCTATCCTCTGTCAAAATCAAGCTGCTGCCAGATGAGG AAGTGGTGGTCTATGGCATCCCCTACCTGCAGAACCTTGAAAACATCATC GACACCTACTCAGCCAGGACCATACAGAACTACCTGGTCTGGCGCCTGGT GCTGGACCGCATTGGTAGCCTAAGCCAGAGATTCAAGGACACACGAGTGA ACTACCGCAAGGCGCTGTTTGGCACAATGGTGGAGGAGGTGCGCTGGCGT GAATGTGTGGGCTACGTCAACAGCAACATGGAGAACGCCGTGGGCTCCCT CTACGTCAGGGAGGCGTTCCCTGGAGACAGCAAGAGCATGGTCAGAGAAC TCATTGACAAGGTGCGGACAGTGTTTGTGGAGACGCTGGACGAGCTGGGC TGGATGGACGAGGAGTCCAAGAAGAAGGCGCAGGAGAAGGCCATGAGCAT CCGGGAGCAGATCGGGCACCCTGACTACATCCTGGAGGAGATGAACAGGC GCCTGGACGAGGAGTACTCCAATCTGAACTTCTCAGAGGACCTGTACTTT GAGAACAGTCTGCAGAACCTCATGGTGGGCGCCCAGCGGAGCCTCAGGAA GCTTCGGGAAAAGGTGGACCCAAATCTCTGGATCATCGGGGCGGCGGTGG TCAATGCGTTCTACTCCCCAAACCGAAACCAGATTGTATTCCCTGCCGGG ATCCTCCAGCCCCCCTTCTTCAGCAAGGAGCAGCCACAGGCCTTGAACTT TGGAGGCATTGGGATGGTGATCGGGCACGAGATCACGCACGGCTTTGACG ACAATGGCCGGAACTTCGACAAGAATGGCAACATGATGGATTGGTGGAGT AACTTCTCCACCCAGCACTTCCGGGAGCAGTCAGAGTGCATGATCTACCA GTACGGCAACTACTCCTGGGACCTGGCAGACGAACAGAACGTGAACGGAT TCAACACCCTTGGGGAAAACATTGCTGACAACGGAGGGGTGCGGCAAGCC TATAAGGCCTACCTCAAGTGGATGGCAGAGGGTGGCAAGGACCAGCAGCT GCCCGGCCTGGATCTCACCCATGAGCAGCTCTTCTTCATCAACTACGCCC AGGTGTGGTGCGGGTCCTACCGGCCCGAGTTCGCCATCCAATCCATCAAG ACAGACGTCCACAGTCCCCTGAAGTACAGGGTACTGGGGTCGCTGCAGAA CCTGGCCGCCTTCGCAGACACGTTCCACTGTGCCCGGGGCACCCCCATGC ACCCCAAGGAGCGATGCCGCGTGTGGTAG-3′

TABLE 2 IGS5-protein (“IGS5PROT”) of SEQ ID NO: 2 CTTPGCVIAAARILQNMDPTTEPCDDFYQFACGGWLRRHVIPETNSRYSI FDVLRDELEVILKAVLENSTAKDRPAVEKARTLYRSCMNQSVIEKRGSQP LLDILEVVGGWPVAMDRWNETVGLEWELERQLALMNSQFNRRVLIDLFIW NDDQNSSRHIIYIDQPTLGMPSREYYFNGGSNRKVREAYLQFMVSVATLL REDANLPRDSCLVQEDMMQVLELETQLAKATVPQEERHDVIALYHRMGLE ELQSQFGLKGFNWTLFIQTVLSSVKIKLLPDEEVVVYGIPYLQNLENIID TYSAPTIQNYLVWRLVLDRIGSLSQRFKDTRVNYRKALFGTMVEEVRWRE CVGYVNSNMENAVGSLYVREAFPGDSKSMVRELIDKVRTVFVETLDELGW MDEESKKKAQEKAMSIREQIGHPDYILEEMNRRLDEEYSNLNFSEDLYFE NSLQNLKVGAQRSLRKLREKVDPNLWTIGAAVVNAFYSPNRNQIVFPAGI LQPPFFSKEQPQALNFGGIGMVIGHEITHGFDDNGRNFDKNGNMMDWWSN FSTQHFREQSECMIYQYGNYSWDLADEQNVNGFNTLGENIADNGGVRQAY KAYLKWMAEGGKDQQLPGLDLTHEQLFFINYAQVWCGSYRPEFAIQSIKT DVHSPLKYRVLGSLQNLAAFADTFHCARGTPMHPKERCRVW

TABLE 3 IGS5-DNA-1 (“IGS5DNA1”) of SEQ ID NO: 3 5′-ATGGGGAAGTCCGAAGGCCCCGTGGGGATGGTGGAGAGCGCTGGCCG TGCAGGGCAGAAGCGCCCGGGGTTCCTGGAGGGGGGGCTGCTGCTGCTGC TGCTGCTGGTGACCGCTGCCCTGGTGGCCTTGGGTGTCCTCTACGCCGAC CGCAGAGGGAAGCAGCTGCCACGCCTTGCTAGCCGGCTGTGCTTCTTACA GGAGGAGAGGACCTTTGTAAAACGAAAACCCCGAGGGATCCCAGAGGCCC AAGAGGTGAGCGAGGTCTGCACCACCCCTGGCTGCGTGATAGCAGCTGCC AGGATCCTCCAGAACATGGACCCGACCACGGAACCGTGTGACGACTTCTA CCAGTTTGCATGCGGAGGCTGGCTGCGGCGCCACGTGATCCCTGAGACCA ACTCAAGATACAGCATCTTTGACGTCCTCCGCGACGAGCTGGAGGTCATC CTCAAAGCGGTGCTGGAGAATTCGACTGCCAAGGACCGGCCGGCTGTGGA GAAGGCCAGGACGCTGTACCGCTCCTGCATGAACCAGAGTGTGATAGAGA AGCGAGGCTCTCAGCCCCTGCTGGACATCTTGGAGGTGGTGGGAGGCTGG CCGGTGGCGATGGACAGGTGGAACGAGACCGTAGGACTCGAGTGGGAGCT GGAGCGGCAGCTGGCGCTGATGAACTCACAGTTCAACAGGCGCGTCCTCA TCGACCTCTTCATCTGGAACGACGACCAGAACTCCAGCCGGCACATCATC TACATAGACCAGCCCACCTTGGGCATGCCCTCCCGAGAGTACTACTTCAA CGGCGGCAGCAACCGGAAGGTGCGGGAAGCCTACCTGCAGTTCATGGTGT CAGTGGCCACGTTGCTGCGGGAGGATGCAAACCTGCCCAGGGACAGCTGC CTGGTGCAGGAGGACATGATGCAGGTGCTGGAGCTGGAGACACAGCTGGC CAAGGCCACGGTACCCCAGGAGGAGAGACACGACGTCATCGCCTTGTACC ACCGGATGGGACTGGAGGAGCTGCAAAGCCAGTTTGGCCTGAAGGGATTT AACTGGACTCTGTTCATACAAACTGTGCTATCCTCTGTCAAAATCAAGCT GCTGCCAGATGAGGAAGTGGTGGTCTATGGCATCCCCTACCTGCAGAACC TTGAAAACATCATCGACACCTACTCAGCCAGGACCATACAGAACTACCTG GTCTGGCGCCTGGTGCTGGACCGCATTGGTAGCCTAAGCCAGAGATTCAA GGACACACGAGTGAACTACCGCAAGGCGCTGTTTGGCACAATGGTGGAGG AGGTGCGCTGGCGTGAATGTGTGGGCTACGTCAACAGCAACATGGAGAAC GCCGTGGGCTCCCTCTACGTCAGGGAGGCGTTCCCTGGAGACAGCAAGAG CATGGTCAGAGAACTCATTGACAAGGTGCGGACAGTGTTTGTGGAGACGC TGGACGAGCTGGGCTGGATGGACGAGGAGTCCAAGAAGAAGGCGCAGGAG AAGGCCATGAGCATCCGGGAGCAGATCGGGCACCCTGACTACATCCTGGA GGAGATGAACAGGCGCCTGGACGAGGAGTACTCCAATCTGAACTTCTCAG AGGACCTGTACTTTGAGAACAGTCTGCAGAACCTCAAGGTGGGCGCCCAG CGGAGCCTCAGGAAGCTTCGGGAAAAGGTGGACCCAAATCTCTGGATCAT CGGGGCGGCGGTGGTCAATGCGTTCTACTCCCCAAACCGAAACCAGATTG TATTCCCTGCCGGGATCCTCCAGCCCCCCTTCTTCAGCAAGGAGCAGCCA CAGGCCTTGAACTTTGGAGGCATTGGGATGGTGATCGGGCACGAGATCAC GCACGGCTTTGACGACAATGGCCGGAACTTCGACAAGAATGGCAACATGA TGGATTGGTGGAGTAACTTCTCCACCCAGCACTTCCGGGAGCAGTCAGAG TGCATGATCTACCAGTACGGCAACTACTCCTGGGACCTGGCAGACGAACA GAACGTGAACGGATTCAACACCCTTGGGGAAAACATTGCTGACAACGGAG GGGTGCGGCATGCCTATAAGGCCTACCTCAAGTGGATGGCAGAGGGTGGC AAGGACCAGCAGCTGCCCGGCCTGGATCTCACCCATGAGCAGCTCTTCTT CATCAACTACGCCCAGGTGTGGTGCGGGTCCTACCGGCCCGAGTTCGCCA TCCAATCCATCAAGACAGACGTCCACAGTCCCCTGAAGTACAGGGTACTG GGGTCGCTGCAGAACCTGGCCGCCTTCGCAGACACGTTCCACTGTGCCCG GGGCACCCCCATGCACCCCAAGGAGCGATGCCGCGTGTGGTAG-3′

TABLE 4 IGS5-protein-1 (“IGS5PROT1”) of SEQ ID NO: 4 MGKSEGPVGMVESAGRAGQKRPGFLEGGLLLLLLLVTAALVALGVLYADR RGKQLPRLASRLCFLQEERTFVKRKPRGIPEAQEVSEVCTTPGCVTAAAR ILQNMDPTTEPCDDFYQFACGGWLRRHVIPETNSRYSIFDVLRDELEVIL KAVLENSTAKDRPAVEKARTLYRSCMNQSVIEKRGSQPLLDILEVVGGWP VANDRWNETVGLEWELERQLALMNSQFNRRVLTDLFIWNDDQNSSRHIIY IDQPTLGMPSREYYFNGGSNRKVREAYLQFMVSVATLLREDANLPRDSCL VQEDMMQVLELETQLAKATVPQEERHDVIALYHRMGLEELQSQFGLKGFN WTLFIQTVLSSVKIKLLPDEEVVVYGIPYLQNLENIIDTYSARTIQITYL VWRLVLDRIGSLSQRFKDTRVNYRKALFGTMVEEVRWRECVGYVNSNMEN AVGSLYVREAFPGDSKSMVRELIDKVRTVFVETLDELGWMDEESKKKAQE KAIVISTREQIGHPDYILEEMNRRLDEEYSNLNFSEDLYFENSLQNLKVG AQRSLRKLREKVDPNLWIIGAAVVNAFYSPNRNQIVFPAGILQPPFFSKE QPQALNFGGIGMVIGHEITHGFDDNGRNFDKNGNMMDWWSNFSTQHFREQ SECMIYQYGNYSWDLADEQNVNGFNTLGENIADNGGVRQAYKAYLKWMAE GGKDQQLPGLDLTHEQLFFINYAQVWCGSYRPEFAIQSIKTDVHSPLKYR VLGSLQNLAAFADTFHCARGTPMHPKERCRVW

TABLE 5 IGS5-DNA-2 (“IGS5DNA2”) of SEQ ID NO: 5 5′-ATGGGGAAGTCCGAAGGCCCAGTGGGGATGGTGGAGAGCGCCGGCCG TGCAGGGCAGAAGCGCCCGGGGTTCCTGGAGGGGGGGCTGCTGCTGCTGC TGCTGCTGGTGACCGCTGCCCTGGTGGCCTTGGGTGTCCTCTACGCCGAC CGCAGAGGGATCCCAGAGGCCCAAGAGGTGAGCGAGGTCTGCACCACCCC TGGCTGCGTGATAGCAGCTGCCAGGATCCTCCAGAACATGGACCCGACCA CGGAACCGTGTGACGACTTCTACCAGTTTGCATGCGGAGGCTGGCTGCGG CGCCACGTGATCCCTGAGACCAACTCAAGATACAGCATCTTTGACGTCCT CCGCGACGAGCTGGAGGTCATCCTCAAAGCGGTGCTGGAGAATTCGACTG CCAAGGACCGGCCGGCTGTGGAGAAGGCCAGGACGCTGTACCGCTCCTGC ATGAACCAGAGTGTGATAGAGAAGCGAGGCTCTCAGCCCCTGCTGGACAT CTTGGAGGTGGTGGGAGGCTGGCCGGTGGCGATGGACAGGTGGAACGAGA CCGTAGGACTCGAGTGGGAGCTGGAGCGGCAGCTGGCGCTGATGAACTCA CAGTTCAACAGGCGCGTCCTCATCGACCTCTTCATCTGGAACGACGACCA GAACTCCAGCCGGCACATCATCTACATAGACCAGCCCACCTTGGGCATGC CCTCCCGAGAGTACTACTTCAACGGCGGCAGCAACCGGAAGGTGCGGGAA GCCTACCTGCAGTTCATGGTGTCAGTGGCCACGTTGCTGCGGGAGGATGC AAACCTGCCCAGGGACAGCTGCCTGGTGCAGGAGGACATGATGCAGGTGC TGGAGCTGGAGACACAGCTGGCCAAGGCCACGGTACCCCAGGAGGAGAGA CACGACGTCATCGCCTTGTACCACCGGATGGGACTGGAGGAGCTGCAAAG CCAGTTTGGCCTGAAGGGATTTAACTGGACTCTGTTCATACAAACTGTGC TATCCTCTGTCAAAATCAAGCTGCTGCCAGATGAGGAAGTGGTGGTCTAT GGCATCCCCTACCTGCAGAACCTTGAAAACATCATCGACACCTACTCAGC CAGGACCATACAGAACTACCTGGTCTGGCGCCTGGTGCTGGACCGCATTG GTAGCCTAAGCCAGAGATTCAAGGACACACGAGTGAACTACCGCAAGGCG CTGTTTGGCACAATGGTGGAGGAGGTGCGCTGGCGTGAATGTGTGGGCTA CGTCAACAGCAACATGGAGAACGCCGTGGGCTCCCTCTACGTCAGGGAGG CGTTCCCTGGAGACAGCAAGAGCATGGTCAGAGAACTCATTGACAAGGTG CGGACAGTGTTTGTGGAGACGCTGGACGAGCTGGGCTGGATGGACGAGGA GTCCAAGATGAAGGCGCAGGAGAAGGCCATGAGCATCCGGGAGCAGATCG GGCACCCTGACTACATCCTGGAGGAGATGAACAGGCGCCTGGACGAGGAG TACTCCAATCTGAACTTCTCAGAGGACCTGTACTTTGAGAACAGTCTGCA GAACCTCAAGGTGGGCGCCCAGCGGAGCCTCAGGAAGCTTCGGGAAAAGG TGGACCCAAATCTCTGGATCATCGGGGCGGCGGTGGTCAATGCGTTCTAC TCCCCAAACCGAAACCAGATTGTATTCCCTGCCGGGATCCTCCAGCCCCC CTTCTTCAGCATGGAGCAGCCACAGGCCTTGAACTTTGGAGGCATTGGGA TGGTGATCGGGCACGAGATCACGCACGGCTTTGACGACAATGGCCGGAAC TTCGACAAGAATGGCAACATGATGGATTGGTGGAGTAACTTCTCCACCCA GCACTTCCGGGAGCAGTCAGAGTGCATGATCTACCAGTACGGCAACTACT CCTGGGACCTGGCAGACGAACAGAACGTGAACGGATTCAACACCCTTGGG GAAAACATTGCTGACAACGGAGGGGTGCGGCAAGCCTATAAGGCCTACCT CAAGTGGATGGCAGAGGGTGGCAAGGACCAGCAGCTGCCCGGCCTGGATC TCACCCATGAGCAGCTCTTCTTCATCAACTACGCCCAGGTGTGGTGCGGG TCCTACCGGCCCGAGTTCGCCATCCAATCCATCAAGACAGACGTCCACAG TCCCCTGAAGTACAGGGTACTGGGGTCGCTGCAGAACCTGGCCGCCTTCG CAGACACGTTCCACTGTGCCCGGGGCACCCCCATGCACCCCAAGGAGCGA TGCCGCGTGTGGTAG-3′

TABLE 6 IGS5-protein-2 (“IGS5PROT2”) of SEQ ID NO: 6 MGKSEGPVGMVESAGRAGQKRPGFLEGGLLLLLLLVTAALVALGVLYADR RGIPEAQEVSEVCTTPGCVIAAARTLQNMDPTTEPCDDFYQFACGGWLRR HVIPETNSRYSIFDVLRDELEVILKAVLENSTAKDRPAVEKARTLYRSCM NQSVIEKRGSQPLLDILEVVGGWPVAMDRWNETVGLEWELERQLALMNSQ FNRRVLIDLFIWNDDQNSSRHIIYIDQPTLGMPSREYYFNGGSNRKVREA YLQFMVSVATLLREDANLPRDSCLVQEDMMQVLELETQLAKATVPQEERH DVIALYHRMGLEELQSQFGLKGFNWTLFIQTVLSSVKIKLLPDEEVVVYG IPYLQNLENITDTYSARTIQNYLVWRLVLDRIGSLSQRFKDTRVNYRKAL FGTMVEEVRWRECVGYVNSNMENAVGSLYVREAFPGDSKSMVRELIDKVR TVFVETLDELGWMDEESKKKAQEKAMSIREQIGHPDYILEEMNRRLDEEY SNLNFSEDLYFENSLQNLKVGAQRSLRKLREKVDPNLWIIGAAVVNAFYS PNRINQIVFPAGILQPPFFSKEQPQALNFGGIGMVIGHEITHGFDDNGRN FDKNGNMMDWWSNFSTQHFREQSECMIYQYGNYSWDLADEQNVNGFNTLG ENIADNGGVRQAYKAYLKWMAEGGKDQQLPGLDLTHEQLFFINYAQVWCG SYRPEFAIQSIKTDVHSPLKYRVLGSLQNLAAFADTFHCARGTPMHPKER CRVW

EXAMPLE 1 Cloning of cDNA Encoding a Novel Member of the NEP/ECE Metalloprotease Family Example 1a Homology PCR Cloning of a cDNA Fragment of a Novel Member of the NEP/ECE Metalloprotease Family

In the DNA databank of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) 4 overlapping EST sequences (accession nos. AA524283, AI088893, AI217369 and AI380811) were detected which contained a small open reading frame encoding a stretch of protein that showed similarity to the C-terminal part of members of the neutral endopeptidase 24.11/endothelin converting enzyme (NEP/ECE) metalloprotease protein family (Turner A. J. et al. Faseb J. (1997) 11: 355-364). The NEP/ECE-like small open reading frame in these ESTs was terminated by a stop codon (in the case of AA524283) and was preceded in all 4 ESTs by a sequence that contained stop codons in all 3 reading frames. This preceeding sequence appeared totally unrelated to NEP/ECE metalloprotease family members.

Although the polarity of the small open reading frame was opposite to the 5′→3′ orientation of the mRNA from which these ESTs had been derived, these sequences were used as the basis for a RT-PCR homology cloning approach. In parallel, additional EST sequences, that showed the same structure as the 4 ESTs mentioned before, were observed to appear in the public domain databanks, e.g. accession nos: AI825876, AI888306, AI422224, AI422225, AI469281, AA975272, AA494534, AW006103, AI827701, AI650385, AI827898, AI934499 and AA422157.

The RT-PCR reactions were carried out using a reverse primer (IP11689; SEQ ID NO:7) designed on the EST cluster (within the area showing similarity to the NEP/ECE family) and a degenerated forward primer (IP11685; SEQ ID NO:8), centered on a conserved peptide motif (VNA(F,Y)Y) of the NEP/ECE family.

For the synthesis of cDNA 2 μg human lung total RNA (Clontech # 64023-1), 1 μl oligo(dT)₁₂₋₁₈ (500 μg/ml) and 9 μl H₂O were combined (final volume=12 μl), heated to 70° C. for 10 minutes and then chilled on ice. 4 μl 5× first strand buffer (250 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.3, 375 mM KCl, 15 mM MgCl₂), 2 μl 0.1M DTT, 1 μl 10 mM dNTP mix and 1 μl (200 U) Superscript™ II (Life Technologies) reverse transcriptase were added. The mixture was incubated at 42° C. for 50 minutes and the reaction was inactivated by heating at 70° C. for 15 minutes.

The PCR reaction was performed in a 50 μl volume containing 1 μl of the cDNA synthesis reaction, 5 μl of GeneAmp™ 10×PCR buffer (500 mM KCl, 100 mM Tris pH 8.3, 15 mM MgCl₂, 0.01% (w/v) gelatin; Perkin Elmer), 2 μl of 10 mM dNTP mix, 10 pmoles each of the forward and reverse primers and 5 units AmpliTaq™ polymerase (Perkin Elmer). After an initial denaturation at 95° C. for 5 min., PCR reactions were cycled 40× as follows: 1 min denaturation at 94° C., 1 min annealing at 60° C. and 1 min extension at 72° C. PCR reaction products were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis.

The IP11685/IP11689 RT-PCR reaction produced an amplicon of ±600 base pairs (bp). The fragment was purified from gel using the Qiaex-II™ purification kit (Qiagen) and ligated into the pGEM-T Easy plasmid according to the procedure recommended by the supplier (pGEM-T Easy system, Promega). The recombinant plasmids were then used to transform competent E. coli SURE™ 2 bacteria (Stratagene). Transformed cells were plated on LB agar plates containing ampicillin (100 μg/I), IPTG (0.5 mM) and X-gal (50 μg/ml). Plasmid DNA was purified from mini-cultures of individual colonies using the BioRobot™ 9600 nucleic acid purification system (Qiagen).

DNA Sequencing reactions were carried out on the purified plasmid DNA with the ABI Prism™ BigDye™ Terminator Cycle Sequencing Ready Reaction kit (PE-ABI), using insert-flanking or internal (IGS5 specific) primers. Plasmid inserts were completely sequenced on both strands. Cycle Sequencing reaction products were purified via EtOH/NaOAc precipitation and analyzed on an ABI 373 automated sequencer. The DNA sequence of the inserts of recombinant clones YCE14, YCE15 and YCE16 (derived from the IP11685/IP11689 amplicon) extended the open reading frame of the original EST cluster in the direction of the N-terminus and further confirmed that this open reading frame was derived from a novel member of the NEP/ECE metalloprotease protein family (see FIG. 1). This upstream sequence thus deviated completely from the upstream sequence present in the EST sequences. This novel sequence is referred to within the context of the present invention generally as “IGS5.”

Example 1b Cloning of cDNA Containing the Putative Ectodomain of IGS5

In order to obtain additional IGS5 CDNA sequence another round of RT-PCR reactions were carried out on human lung RNA under the conditions described above using the IGS5 specific reverse primer IP12190 (SEQ ID NO:9) and a degenerated forward primer (IP12433; SEQ ID NO:10), centered on a conserved peptide motif (LXXLXWMD) of the NEP/ECE family. The IP12190/12433 RT-PCR reaction produced an amplicon of ±600 bp that was cloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector yielding clones YCE19, YCE22 and YCE23. All clones were fully sequenced and allowed to extend the IGS5 open reading frame further upstream (see FIG. 1). To obtain cDNA clones that would cover the 5′ end of the IGS5 transcript, semi-nested 5′-RACE PCR reactions were done on human heart Marathon-Ready™ cDNA using the adaptor primer 1 (AP1: SEQ ID NO:11) provided with the Marathon™ cDNA amplification kit (Clontech K1802-1) in combination with IGS5 specific primers IP12189 SEQ ID NO:12) and IP12585 (SEQ ID NO:13). PCR RACE reactions were performed according to the instructions of the Marathon-Ready™ cDNA user manual provided by Clontech. RACE products were separated on agarose gel, visualized with ethidium bromide and blotted onto Hybond N⁺ membranes. Blots were prehybridized at 65° C. for 2 h in modified Church buffer (0.5 M phosphate, 7% SDS, 10 mM EDTA) and then hybridized overnight at 65° C. in the same buffer containing 2×10⁶ cpm/ml of the ³²P-labelled insert of clone YCE23. The YCE23 insert was radiolabelled via random primed incorporation of (α-³²P)dCTP to a specific activity of >10⁹ cpm/μg using the Prime-It II™ kit (Stratagene) according to the instructions provided by the supplier. Hybridized blots were washed at high stringency (2×30 min at room temperature in 2×SSC/0.1% SDS followed by 2 washes of 40 min at 65° C. in 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS) and autoradiographed overnight. Hybridizing fragments were purified from gel, cloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector (yielding clones YCE 59, YCE 64 and YCE 65) and sequenced as described above.

The DNA sequences of all isolated clones could be assembled into a single contig (IGS5CONS; see FIG. 1) that extended the open reading frame of IGS5 further upstream but an ATG start of translation codon was not yet encountered. Primer IP11689 had been designed on EST AI380811 and did not contain the last 4 nucleotides before the stop codon present in the aligned EST sequences. In order to generate an open reading frame that terminated at the stop codon the last (consensus) 22 nucleotides of the aligned EST sequences were included in the overall assembly of IGS5CONS.

Homology searches showed that the (partial) encoded protein was most similar to neutral endopeptidase (NEP; see example 2). However, the initial 20 amino acids of the IGS5CONS open reading frame did not show any similarity to NEP. This could possibly be due to the fact that they were derived from an intron. Indeed exon 4 of human NEP starts at a position that corresponds approximately to the position downstream of these 20 amino acids (D'Adamio L. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1989) 86: 7103-7107). Hydropathy analysis (Kyte J. et al. (1982) J. Mol. Biol. 157: 105-132; Klein P. et al. (1985) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 815:468-476) did not indicate the presence of a transmembrane domain within the predicted IGS5CONS amino acid sequence, although such a transmembrane domain would be expected to occur (or at least overlap with) within the initial 20 amino acids. For these reasons it was preferred to exclude the initial sequence part of the IGS5 contig (FIG. 1). The resulting DNA sequence (IGS5DNA; SEQ ID NO:1) is 2076 nucleotides long (including the stop codon) and encodes a protein of 691 residues (IGS5PROT, SEQ ID NO:2). Alignment of IGS5PROT with the human NEP protein sequence showed that the IGS5PROT sequence corresponds to the complete ectodomain sequence of NEP. IGS5PROT can thus be expected to carry the complete enzymatic activity of the putative IGS5 enzyme, as was demonstrated for the ectodomain of NEP (Fossiez F. et al. Biochem. J. (1992) 284, 53-59).

TABLE 7 Overview of oligo primers used in Example 1 SEQ ID NO: 7 IP11689: 5′-ACACGGCATCGCTCCTTG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 8 Ip11685: 5′-CCCCCTGGACGGTGAA(C or T)GC(A, C, G or T)T(A or T) (C or T)TA-3′ SEQ ID NO: 9 IP12190: 5′-AATCCGTTCACGTTCTGTTCGTCTGC C-3′ SEQ ID NO: 10 IP12433: 5′-CCTGGAGGAGCTG(A, C or G) (A, C or T) (A, C, G or T)TGGATG(A or G)A-3′ SEQ ID NO: 11 AP1: 5′-CCATCCTAATACGACTCACTATAGGG C-3′ SEQ ID NO: 12 IP12189: 5′-GTCCTTGCCACCCTCTGCCATCC-3′ SEQ ID NO: 13 IP12585: 5′-ACCACCCCCGCCCCGATGATCCAGA G-3′

EXAMPLE 2 Alignment of IGS5 with Protein Sequences of Members of the NEP/ECE Metalloprotease Family

For the IGS5 Sequence cloned in example 1a, homology searches of up to date protein databanks and translated DNA databanks were executed using the BLAST algorithm (Altschul S. F. et al. (1997), Nucleic Acids Res. 25:3389-3402). These searches showed that the IGS5 protein was most similar (54-55% identities over ±700 aligned residues) to mouse, rat and human neutral endopeptidase (SW:NEP_MOUSE, accession no. Q61391; SW:NEP_RAT, accession no. P07861 and SW:NEP_HUMAN accession no. P08473).

Thus, this alignment of the almost complete IGS5 protein sequence with the other members of the NEP/ECE family shows the relation of IGS5 to metalloproteases in general, and in particular to the NEP and/or ECE metalloprotease families. From this structural alignment it is concluded that the IGS5 has the functionality of metalloproteases, which in turn are of interest in the context of several dysfunctions, disorders or diseases in animals and humans.

EXAMPLE 3 Cloning of cDNA Encoding a Novel Member of the NEP/ECE Metalloprotease Family Example 3a Homology PCR Cloning of a cDNA Fragment of a Novel Member of the NEP/ECE Metalloprotease Family

In the DNA databank of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) 4 overlapping EST sequences (accession nos. AA524283, AI088893, AI217369 and AI380811) were detected which contained a small open reading frame encoding a stretch of protein that showed similarity to the C-terminal part of members of the neutral endopeptidase 24.11/endothelin converting enzyme (NEP/ECE) metalloprotease protein family (Turner A. J. et al., Faseb J. (1997) 11: 355-364). The NEP/ECE-like small open reading frame in these ESTs was terminated by a stop codon (in the case of AA524283) and was preceded in all 4 ESTs by a sequence that contained stop codons in all 3 reading frames. This preceding sequence appeared totally unrelated to NEP/ECE metalloprotease family members. Although the polarity of the small open reading frame was opposite to the 5′→3′ orientation of the mRNA from which these ESTs had been derived, it was decided to use these sequences as the basis for a RT-PCR homology cloning approach. In parallel, additional EST sequences, that showed the same structure as the 4 ESTs mentioned before were observed to appear in the public domain databanks, e.g. accession nos: AI825876, AI888306, AI422224, AI422225, AI469281, AA975272, AA494534, AW006103, AI827701, AI650385, AI827898, AI934499 and AA422157. The RT-PCR reactions were carried out using a reverse primer (IP11689; SEQ ID NO:7) designed on the EST cluster (within the area showing similarity to the NEP/ECE family) and a degenerated forward primer (IP11685; SEQ ID NO:8), centered on a conserved peptide motif (VNA(F,Y)Y) of the NEP/ECE family.

For the synthesis of cDNA 2 μg human lung total RNA (Clontech # 64023-1), 1 μl oligo(dT)₁₂₋₁₈ (500 μg/ml) and 9 μl, H₂O were combined (final volume=12 μl), heated to 70° C. for 10 minutes and then chilled on ice. 4 μl 5× first strand buffer (250 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.3, 375 mM KCl, 15 mM MgCl₂), 2 μl 0.1 M DTT, 1 μl 10 mM dNTP mix and 1 μl (200 U) Superscript™ II (Life Technologies) reverse transcriptase were added. The mixture was incubated at 42° C. for 50 minutes and the reaction was inactivated by heating at 70° C. for 15 minutes.

The PCR reaction was performed in a 50 μl volume containing 1 μl of the cDNA synthesis reaction, 5 μl of GeneAmp™ 10×PCR buffer (500 mM KCl, 100 mM Tris pH 8.3, 15 mM MgCl₂, 0.01% (w/v) gelatin; PE Biosystems), 2 μl of 10 mM dNTP mix, 10 pmoles each of the forward and reverse primers and 5 units AmpliTaq™ polymerase (PE Biosystems). After an initial denaturation at 95° C. for 5 min., PCR reaction tubes were cycled 40× as follows: 1 min denaturation at 94° C., 1 min annealing at 60° C. and 1 min extension at 72° C. PCR reaction products were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis.

The IP11685/IP11689 RT-PCR reaction produced an amplicon of ±600 base pairs (bp). The fragment was purified from gel using the Qiaex-II™ purification kit (Qiagen) and ligated into the pGEM™-T Easy plasmid according to the procedure recommended by the supplier (pGEM™-T Easy system, Promega). The recombinant plasmids were then used to transform competent E. coli SURE™ 2 bacteria (Stratagene). Transformed cells were plated on LB agar plates containing ampicillin (100 μg/ml), IPTG (0.5 mM) and X-gal (50 μg/ml). Plasmid DNA was purified from mini-cultures of individual colonies using the BioRobot™ 9600 nucleic acid purification system (Qiagen).

DNA sequencing reactions were carried out on the purified plasmid DNA with the ABI Prism™ BigDye™ Terminator Cycle Sequencing Ready Reaction kit (PE Biosystems), using insert-flanking or internal primers. Plasmid inserts were completely sequenced on both strands. Cycle Sequencing reaction products were purified via EtOH/NaOAc precipitation and analyzed on an ABI 377 automated sequencer. The DNA sequence of the inserts of recombinant clones YCE14, YCE15 and YCE16 (derived from the IP11685/IP11689 amplicon) extended the open reading frame of the original EST cluster in the direction of the N-terminus and further supported the hypothesis that this open reading frame was derived from a novel member of the NEP/ECE metalloprotease protein family (FIG. 2). This upstream sequence thus deviated completely from the upstream sequence present in the EST sequences. This novel sequence is referred to within the context of the present invention generally as “IGS5.”

Example 3b Cloning of cDNA Fragments Containing the Full Length Coding Sequence of IGS5

In order to obtain additional IGS5 cDNA sequence another round of RT-PCR reactions were carried out on human lung RNA under the conditions described above using the IGS5 specific reverse primer IP12190 (SEQ ID NO:9) and a degenerated forward primer (IP12433; SEQ ID NO:10), centered on a conserved peptide motif (LXXLXWMD) of the NEP/ECE protein family. The IP12190/12433 RT-PCR reaction produced an amplicon of ±600 bp that was cloned into the pGEM™-T Easy vector yielding clones YCE19, YCE22 and YCE23. All clones were fully sequenced and allowed to extend the IGS5 open reading frame further upstream (see FIG. 2).

To obtain CDNA clones that would cover the 5′ end of the IGS5 transcript, semi-nested 5′-RACE PCR reactions were done on human heart Marathon-Ready™ cDNA using the adaptor primer 1 (AP1: SEQ ID NO:11) provided with the Marathon™ cDNA amplification kit (Clontech K1802-1) in combination with IGS5 specific primers IP12189 (SEQ ID NO:12) and IP12585 (SEQ ID NO13). PCR RACE reactions were performed according to the instructions of the Marathon-Ready™ cDNA user manual provided by Clontech. RACE products were separated on agarose gel, visualized with ethidium bromide and blotted onto Hybond™-N⁺ membranes (Amersham). Blots were prehybridized at 65° C. for 2 h in modified Church buffer (0.5 M phosphate, 7% SDS, 10 mM EDTA) and then hybridized overnight at 65° C. in the same buffer containing 2×10⁶ cpm/ml of the ³²P-labelled insert of clone YCE23. The YCE23 insert was radiolabelled via random primed incorporation of (α-³²P)dCTP to a specific activity of >10⁹ cpm/μg using the Prime-It II™ kit (Stratagene) according to the instructions provided by the supplier. Hybridized blots were washed at high stringency (2×30 min at room temperature in 2×SSC/0.1% SDS followed by 2 washes of 40 min at 65° C. in 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS) and autoradiographed overnight. Hybridizing fragments were purified from gel, cloned into the pGEM™-T Easy vector (yielding clones YCE 59, YCE 64 and YCE 65) and sequenced as described above.

The DNA sequences of all isolated clones could be assembled into a single contig that extended the open reading frame of IGS5 further upstream although no start of translation codon was yet encountered. Primer IP11689 had been designed on EST AI380811 and did not incorporate the last 4 nucleotides before the stop codon present in the aligned EST sequences. In order to generate an open reading frame that terminated at this stop codon the last (consensus) 22 nucleotides of the aligned EST sequences were included in the contig.

Several attempts to clone the still missing amino-terminal part of the IGS5 coding sequence via 5′ RACE PCR extension or via screening of cDNA libraries failed. Therefore it was tried to obtain genomic sequence information in the area around and upstream of the 5′ end of the preliminary IGS5 contig. Approximately 550,000 plaques of a human genomic DNA library, constructed in the lambda EMBL3 phage vector (Clontech HL1067j) were lifted onto Hybond™-N⁺ membranes. Membrane lifts were prehybridized at 65° C. for 2 h in modified Church buffer and then hybridized overnight at 65° C. in the same buffer containing 2×10⁶ cpm/ml of a ³²P-labeled ±150 bp EcoRI/EcoRII fragment, located at the 5′ end of clone YCE59. The cDNA probe was radiolabelled via random primed incorporation of (α-³²P)dCTP to a specific activity of >10⁹ cpm/μg using the Prime-It II Kit™ (Stratagene) according to the instructions provided by the supplier. Hybridized membranes were washed at high stringency (2×30 min at room temperature in 2×SSC/0.1% SDS followed by 1 wash of 40 min at 65° C. in 0.1×SSC/0.1% SDS) and autoradiographed. Hybridizing plaques were subjected to a second round of screening and pure single plaques were obtained. Recombinant phage DNA was purified from infected liquid cultures using the Qiagen™ Lambda Midi Kit (Qiagen) and sequenced as described above using flanking EMBL3 vector primers and IGS5 internal primers. From the insert of clone IGS5/S1 approximately 5,000 nucleotides upstream of the 5′ end of the preliminary IGS5 contig were sequenced. Homology searches of translated DNA databanks showed that this 5,000 bp fragment contained a stretch of 78 bp which encoded a peptide that was most similar (15 identical residues over 25 aligned) to an alternatively spliced 69 bp fragment in the mouse SEP sequence (GenBank accession no AF157105), which is a recently described novel member of the NEP/ECE family (Ikeda et al. (1999) JBC 274: 32469-32477). This 78 bp human fragment was preceded by and followed by putative consensus splice acceptor and donor sites respectively but did not contain an “ATG” start of translation codon.

In order to obtain cDNA clones containing the amino-terminal part of the IGS5 coding sequence, semi-nested 5′ RACE PCR reactions were carried out on human testis Marathon-Ready™ cDNA (Clontech 7414-1) using the adapter primer 1 (AP1: SEQ ID NO:11) provided with the Marathon™ cDNA amplification kit (Clontech K1802-1) in combination with IGS5 specific anti-sense primers IP14,241 (SEQ ID NO:14) and IP14242 (SEQ ID NO:15) which were designed within the 78 bp genomic fragment described above. PCR RACE reactions were performed according to the instructions of the Marathon Ready™ cDNA user manual provided by Clontech (reaction volume=25 μl). RACE products were separated on agarose gel, visualised with ethidium bromide and analyzed via Southern blot.

To generate a specific hybridizaton probe for the blotted RACE products, a semi-homology PCR reaction was carried out on the above obtained nested RACE products using the reverse oligonucleotide primer IP14241 (SEQ ID NO:14) and a degenerated forward primer (IP13798; SEQ ID NO:16) which was centered on a peptide motif (GLMVLLLL) within the transmembrane domain of the mouse SEP protein. The PCR reaction was performed in a 25 μl, volume containing 1 μl of the semi-nested 5′ RACE PCR reaction product, 2.5 μl of GeneAmp™ 10×PCR buffer (500 mM KCl, 100 mM Tris pH 8.3, 15 mM MgCl₂, 0.01% (w/v) gelatin; PE Biosystems), 1 μl of 10 mM dNTP mix, 10 pmoles each of the forward and reverse primers and 2.5 units AmpliTaq-Gold™ polymerase (PE Biosystems). After an initial denaturation at 95° C. for 10 min, PCR reaction tubes were cycled 35× as follows: 1 min denaturation at 95° C., 30 seconds annealing at 50° C. and 30 seconds extension at 72° C. PCR reaction products were analyzed via agarose gel electrophoresis. The semi-homology PCR reaction produced an amplicon of ±110 base pairs. The fragment was purified from gel using the Qiaex II™ purification kit (Qiagen) and ligated into the pGEM™-T plasmid according to the procedure recommended by the supplier (pGEM™-T system, Promega). The recombinant plasmids were then used to transform competent E. coli SURE™ 2 bacteria (Stratagene). Transformed cells were plated on LB agar plates containing ampicillin (100 μg/l), IPTG (0.5 mM) and X-gal (50 μg/ml). Plasmid DNA was purified from mini-cultures of individual colonies using the BioRobot™ 9600 nucleic acid purification system (Qiagen) and sequenced as described above. The DNA sequence of the inserts of recombinant clones YCE207, YCE212, YCE216, YCE217, YCE218 and YCE219 could be assembled with the 78 bp genomic fragment described above into a single contig (see FIG. 2).

Southern blots of the semi-nested 5′ RACE PCR reaction products were prehybridized at 65° C. for 1 h in modified Church buffer and then hybridized overnight at 65° C. in the same buffer containing 2×10⁶ cpm/ml of the ³²P-labelled insert of clone YCE207. Hybridized blots were washed at high stringency and autoradiographed. Hybridizing fragments were purified from gel, cloned into the pGEM™-T vector (yielding clones YCE223, YCE224 and YCE226) and sequenced as described above. The DNA sequences of these clones could be assembled with the 78 bp genomic fragment and with clones YCE207, YCE212, YCE216, YCE217, YCE218 and YCE219 into a single contig (FIG. 2). The resulting contig contained an open reading frame which started at an “ATG” initiation codon and encoded a protein which showed high similarity with the N-terminal sequence of the mouse SEP protein.

To obtain cDNA clones covering the amino-terminal part of the IGS5 coding sequence and overlapping with clone YCE59, PCR reactions were set up on human testis Marathon-Ready™ cDNA (Clontech 7414-1) using a specific forward primer (IP14535; SEQ ID NO:17) based on the 5′ UTR sequence of IGS5 and a specific reverse primer (IP14537; SEQ ID NO:18) located within YCE59. The PCR reaction was performed in a 25 μl volume containing 2.5 μl of human testis Marathon-Ready™ cDNA, 2.5 μl of GeneAmp™ 10×PCR buffer (500 mM KCl, 100 mM Tris pH 8.3, 15 mM MgCl₂, 0.01% (w/v) gelatin; PE Biosystems), 1 μl of 10 mM dNTP mix, 10 pmoles each of the forward and reverse primers and 2.5 units AmpliTaq-Gold™ polymerase (PE Biosystems). After an initial denaturation at 95° C. for 10 min., PCR reaction tubes were cycled 41× as follows: 1 min denaturation at 95° C., 1 min annealing at 53° C. and 1 min extension at 72° C. PCR reaction products were analysed by agarose gel electrophoresis. The PCR reaction produced two amplicons of ±300 and 380 base pairs respectively. The 300 bp and 380 bp fragments were purified from gel, cloned into the pGEM™-T vector and sequenced as described above. This yielded clones YCE231, YCE233 and YCE235 (300 bp fragment) and YCE229 (380 bp fragment).

Assembly of the DNA sequences of all isolated clones showed the presence of two types of cDNA sequences, that differed by the presence or absence of the 78 bp segment, initially identified within genomic clone IGS5/S1. These two sequences likely originate from alternatively spliced RNA molecules. The longest transcript contains an open reading frame of 2337 nucleotides (encoding a protein of 779 residues) whereas the shorter transcript contains an open reading frame of 2259 nucleotides (encoding a protein of 753 residues). We refer to the coding sequence and protein sequence of the long form as IGS5DNA1 (shown in SEQ ID NO:3, 2340 bp including the stop codon tag) and IGS5PROT1 (SEQ ID NO:4) respectively, whereas the coding sequence and protein sequence of the shorter form are referred to as IGS5DNA2 (shown in SEQ ID NO:5, 2262 bp including the stop codon tag) and IGS5PROT2 (SEQ ID NO:6) respectively. Downstream of the postulated methionine initiaton codon within IGS5DNA1 and IGS5DNA2 an additional in-frame methionine codon is present at codon position 10. Although we have opted for the first methionine codon as being the initiaton codon some (or even exclusive) initiation of translation at codon position 10 cannot be excluded, since both methionines appear to be within an equally favorable “Kozak” initiation of translation context (Kozak M., Gene (1999): 234: 187-208). Hydropathy analysis (Kyte J. et al., J. Mol. Biol. (1982) 157: 105-132; Klein P. et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta (1985) 815: 468-476) of the IGS5PROT1 and IGS5PROT2 sequences showed the presence of a single transmembrane domain between residues 22 to 50. This indicates that IGS5PROT1 and IGS5PROT2 are type II integral membrane proteins and thus have a membrane topology similar to other members of the NEP/ECE protein family.

TABLE 8 Overview of the oligonucleotide primers that were used in Example 3. SEQ ID NO: 7 IP11689: 5′-ACACGGCATCGCTCCTTG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 8 IP11685: 5′-CCCCCTGGACGGTGAA(C or T)GC(A, C, G or T)T(A or T) (C or T)TA-3′ SEQ ID NO: 9 IP12190: 5′-AATCCGTTCACGTTCTGTTCGTCTGC C-3′ SEQ ID NO: 10 IP12433: 5′-CCTGGAGGAGCTG(A, C or G) (A, C or T) (A, C, G or T)TGGATG(A or G)A-3′ SEQ ID NO: 11 AP1: 5′-CCATCCTAATACGACTCACTATAGGG C-3′ SEQ ID NO: 12 IP12189: 5′-GTCCTTGCCACCCTCTGCCATCC-3′ SEQ ID NO: 13 IP12585: 5′-ACCACCCCCGCCCCGATGATCCAGA G-3′ SEQ ID NO: 14 IP14241: 5′-ACAGCCGGCTAGCAAGGCGTGGCAGC TG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 15 IP14242: 5′-ACGACAGCCGGCTAGCAAGGCGTGGC AG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 16 IP13798: 5′-GG(A, C, G or T)CT(C or G)ATGGT(A, C, G or T)CT(C or G)CT(C or G)CT(C or G)CT(C or G)-3′ SEQ ID NO: 17 IP14535: 5′-CTCCTGAGTGAGCAAAGGTTCC-3′ SEQ ID NO: 18 IP14537: 5′-GCAAACTGGTAGAAGTCGTCACA C-3′

EXAMPLE 4 Alignment of IGS5 with Protein Sequences of Members of the NEP/ECE Metalloprotease Family

For the IGS5 sequence cloned in example 3, homology searches of up to date protein databanks and translated DNA databanks were executed using the BLAST algorithm (Altschul S. F. et al, Nucleic Acids Res. (1997) 25:3389-3402). These searches showed that IGS5PROT1 was most similar (76% identities over 778 aligned residues) to mouse SEP (GenBank accession no. AF157105) and also showed 54-55% identities over 696 aligned residues to mouse, rat and human neutral endopeptidases (SW:NEP_MOUSE, accession no. Q61391; SW:NEP_RAT, accession no. P07861; SW:NEP_HUMAN, accession no. P08473). Homology searches of IGS5PROT2 showed that this sequence was most similar (78% identities over 752 aligned residues) to mouse SEP^(Δ) (GenBank accession no AF157106). In analogy with the mouse SEP and SEP^(Δ) proteins it is to be expected that IGS5PROT1 and IGS5PROT2 represent the membrane-bound and soluble forms of the IGS5 protein respectively. This is corroborated by the presence of dibasic residues (KRK) encoded at the 3′ end of the alternatively spliced 78 bp exon.

Thus, this alignment of the complete IGS5 protein sequence with the other members of the NEP/ECE family shows the relation of IGS5 to NEP/ECE metalloproteases in general, and in particular to the SEP and NEP family members. From this structural alignment it is concluded that the IGS5 protein has the functionality of metalloproteases, which in turn are of interest in the context of several dysfunctions, disorders or diseases in animals and humans.

EXAMPLE 5 RNA Expression Analysis of IGS5

IGS5 expression analysis on Human RNA Master Blot™. A solution of Express-Hyb™ (Clontech # 8015-1) and sheared salmon testis DNA was prepared as follows: 15 ml of Express-Hyb was preheated at 50-60° C. 1.5 mg of sheared salmon testis DNA was heated at 95° C. for 5 minutes and then quickly chilled on ice. The heat-denatured sheared salmon testis DNA was mixed with the preheated Express-Hyb™. The human RNA Master Blot™ (Clontech # 7770-1) was prehybridised in 10 ml of the solution prepared above for 30 minutes with contiguous agitation at 65° C. The ³²P labelled YCE15 probe (labelled with Prime-it II™ kit, Stratagene) was heat-denatured and added to the remaining 5 ml of the Express-Hyb™ solution. Hybridisation was done overnight at 65° C. Washings were done in 2×SSC/1% SDS for 100 minutes (5×20 min.) at 65° C. Two additional 20 minutes washes were performed in 200 ml 0.1×SSC/0.5% SDS at 55° C. Finally the Master Blot was autoradiographed using X-ray film. Hybridization of the IGS5 probe on the Master Blot™ showed expression in a wide range of tissues, and in particular expression in testis, small intestine, prostate and stomach (FIG. 3). IGS5 Expression Analysis on Human Brain Multiple Tissue Northern Blots II and IV (# 7755-1 and # 7769-1 respectively).

An Express-Hyb™ solution (Clontech # 8015-1) was preheated at 68° C. The blot was prehybridised at 68° C. for 1 hour. 100 μg sheared salmon testis DNA was added to the ³²P labelled YCE15 probe (labelled with Prime-it II™ kit, Stratagene) and heat-denatured at 95° C. for 10 minutes. The probe was added to the remaining 5 ml of the Express-Hyb™ solution and hybridisation was done for 2 hours at 68° C. Washings were done in 2×SSC/0.05% SDS for 40 minutes (2×20 min.) at RT. Two additional 20 minutes washes were performed in 200 ml 0.1×SSC/0.1% SDS at 55° C. The blot was autoradiographed using X-ray film. This Northern blot analysis showed a major hybridizing band of ±3 kb and a minor band of 5.5-6 kb in all tissues investigated.

EXAMPLE 6 Expression and Purification of the His-Tagged Ectodomain of Human IGS5

The aim of the experiment was to produce soluble IGS5 protein using the baculoviral expression system. A recombinant baculovirus was constructed that expressed the His₆-tagged IGS5 ectodomain upon infection of the Sf9 cell-line. Soluble IGS5 protein was then purified from the culture supernatant in a two step procedure involving lentil-lectin and Zn-IMAC chromatography.

We fused the signal peptide of the pro-opiomelanocortin precursor (POMC) to the His-tagged extracellular part of the IGS5 coding sequence. As the enzymatically active site (metalloprotease) of the protein is located at the C-terminal end, we preferred to add the His-purification tag at the N-terminus of the protein. Furthermore a Gly-Ser linker was inserted between the POMC signal peptide and the IGS5 ectodomain. The expressed IGS5 protein started at residue 60 of IGS5PROT2 (SEVC . . . ) and thus comprised almost the complete IGS5 ectodomain. The cloning strategy involved a combination of synthetic oligonucleotide assembly, overlap PCR and 3-points-ligation. This resulted in the expression of a protein consisting of the POMC signal (cleaved upon secretion), a Gly-Ser linker, a His6 peptide and the IGS5 extracellular domain.

Example 6A Construction of the pAcSG2SOLhuIGS5His6 Baculo Transfer Vector

For the construction of the pAcSG2SOLhuIGS5 baculo transfer vector the following DNA fragments were generated:

1. The pAcSG2 vector (BD PharMingen) was StuI/NotI digested. The 5527 bp fragment was extracted from agarose gel using the QiaExII extraction kit (Westburg) and dissolved in 30 μl 10 mM Tris-HCl pH8.5.

2. pGEMT clone YCE174 was assembled from clones YCE15, YCE22, YCE64 and YCE65 via a combination of PCR and restriction digestion/ligation. Primer IP13541, which in contrast to IP11689 did contain the last 4 nucleotides of the IGS5 coding sequence and the stop codon, was used in this procedure (Table 9). YCE174 therefore contained almost the complete coding region of the huIGS5 extracellular domain down to (and including) the stop codon (FIG. 2). YCE174 was XhoI/NotI digested resulting in a 3025 bp, a 1723 bp and a 448 bp fragment as shown by agarose gel electrophoresis. The 1723 bp fragment, containing the coding region for the huIGS5 ectodomain, was extracted from gel (QiaexII, Qiagen) and dissolved in 20 μl 10 mM Tris-HCl pH8.5.

3. A synthetic nucleic acid fragment (180 bp) containing a StuI recognition site at the 5′ end, followed by the POMC signal sequence, a Gly-Ser linker, a His6 tag and 65 bp of the 5′ end of the IGS5 ectodomain coding sequence was assembled by combining the oligonucleotides IP14165, IP14114, IP14115, IP14116, IP14117, IP14118, IP14119, and IP14120, followed by overlap PCR with primers IP14166 and IP14110 (Table 9; see also FIG. 4). The StuI site present in the natural POMC signal peptide coding sequence was removed by introducing a silent mutation (IP14115, nucleotide 30 G→A) at bp position 57.

TABLE 9 Overview of the oligonucleotide primers that were used in Example 6. SEQ ID NO: 19 IP14165: 5′-GACAAGGCCTATTATGCCGAGATCGT GCTGCAGCCGCTCG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 20 IP14114: 5′-AAGGCCAGCAACAGGGCCCCCGAGCG GCTGCAGCACGATC-3′ SEQ ID NO: 21 IP14115: 5′-GGGGCCCTGTTGCTGGCCTTGCTGCT TCAAGCCTCCATGG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 22 IP14116: 5′-GTGAGAACCGCCACGCACTTCCATGG AGGCTTGAAGCAGC-3′ SEQ ID NO: 23 IP14117: 5′-AAGTGCGTGGCGGTTCTCACCATCAC CACCATCACAGCGA-3′ SEQ ID NO: 24 IP14118: 5′-AGCCAGGGGTGGTGCAGACCTCGCTG TGATGGTGGTGATG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 25 IP14119: 5′-GGTCTGCACCACCCCTGGCTGCGTGA TAGCAGCTGCCAGG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 26 IP14120: 5′-GGGTCCATGTTCTGGAGGATCCTGGC AGCTGCTATCACGC-3′ SEQ ID NO: 27 IP14166: 5′-GACAAGGCCTATTATG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 28 IP14110: 5′-GGGTCCATGTTCTG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 29 IP14111: 5′-AGCGAGGTCTGCAC-3′ SEQ ID NO: 30 IP14112: 5′-GTAGATGATGTGCCG-3′ SEQ ID NO: 31 IP13541: 5′-GCACTAGTCTTGGCTACCACACGCGG CATCGCTCCTTG-3′

A second PCR fragment (495 bp) was amplified from the clone YCE174 template using primers IP14111 and IP14112. The first and second PCR product share a 65 bp long overlapping region. By using a mixture of both PCR products as a template, an overlap PCR was performed with primers IP14166 and IP14112, generating a final 610 bp PCR fragment. This fragment was purified on a QiaQuick Spin Column (Qiagen), StuI/XhoI digested and the resulting 496 bp fragment was extracted from agarose gel (QiaexII).

The three DNA fragments (5527, 1723 and 496 bp) that were generated as described above, were combined in a ligation reaction. The ligation mixture was incubated overnight at 16° C. and used to transform competent DH5alphaF′ cells. The transformed bacteria were plated on LB agar/ampicillin plates (100 μg/ml ampicillin). Plates were incubated overnight at 37° C. 30 random colonies were cultured in 5 ml LB medium supplemented with 100 μg/ml ampicillin. Plasmid DNA was prepared using the Biorobot™ 9600 Nucleic Acid Purification System (Qiagen) and screened via BamHI digestion. 7 clones that displayed the correct restriction pattern were further analyzed by XhoI, StuI, AlwNI, HindIII and HincII digestion and sequence analysis of the insert. One clone with the correct restriction pattern and expected insert sequence was finally selected and deposited in the culture collection (strainlist) as ICCG4502. (This clone contains a silent mutation at bp position 878 (G→A) of the transfer vector.)

A sterile Qiagen Midi DNA prep (Westburg) was made from the deposited clone, which yielded 110 μg DNA. Restriction analysis by XhoI, AlwNI, StuI, HindIII and HincII digestion revealed the correct restriction pattern as shown by agarose gel electrophoresis. Sequence analysis confirmed the expected sequence. The map of the pAcSG2SOLhuIGS5His6 baculo transfer vector is shown in FIG. 5.

Example 6B Generation of a Recombinant Baculovirus for Expression of Soluble huIGS5His6

A recombinant baculovirus, expressing the extracellular domain (minus a few AA) of the N-terminal His tagged human IGS5 was generated by cotransfection (Ca-phosphate transfection method) of the pAcSG2SOLhuIGS5His6 transfer vector DNA (ICCG 4502) in the host insect cell (Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cells) with the linearized genomic DNA of a modified version of the wild type baculoviral genome, (BaculoGold; Pharmingen catn° 21100 D) in the host insect cells (Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cells). The BaculoGold DNA contains a lethal deletion and does not code for viable virus. Co-transfection of the BaculoGold DNA with a complementing Baculovirus transfer vector rescues the lethal deletion by homologous recombination. Using this approach 3 individual candidate recombinants were plaque-purified. All candidate recombinants were amplified.

Example 6C Eudaryotic Expression

Kinetic expression analysis. Sf9 cells (IGCL 83.0), exponentially growing in suspension in spinner flasks at 27° C. in TC100 medium (JRH Biosciences Catn° 56941), supplemented with 10% inactivated Foetal Calf Serum (Gibco BRL Catn° 10 084 168), were collected by low speed centrifugation and seeded at 5.105 cells/Fk (25 cm2) in serum-free TC100 medium. Candidate recombinant viral clones were added at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 3 pfu/cell and cell/virus cultures were subsequently incubated at 27° C. Conditioned medium (CM) was harvested at 24, 48 and 72 h post infection by 2 consecutive low speed centrifugations. Samples were analysed by SDS PAGE gel electrophoresis and Western blotting.

Western blot revealed a clear band at approximately 81 kDa in the CM of all candidate clones, corresponding to the theoretical Mr of the mature protein (81.2 kDa) (not shown). Expression levels of all 3 clones peaked at 48-72 h post-infection. Clone 2 was selected for further amplification and was deposited as IGBV73. Optimal harvest time was set at 72 h post infection.

Deglycosylation study. The soluble human IGS5 protein sequence contains 8 potential N-glycosylation sites (FIG. 6). Since the purification protocol involves binding of the sugar residues on a lentil-lectin column, samples of CM of all candidate recombinant viral clones, harvested at 72 h post infection, were used for a deglycosylation study with N-glycosidase F, to check whether the recombinant soluble His6IGS5 protein is indeed expressed as a glycosylated protein.

Samples were supplemented with SDS to a final concentration of 1% and incubated at 95° C. for 5′. After addition of 1 volume of the 2× incubation buffer (250 mM phosphate buffer, 50 mM EDTA, 50% N-octylglycoside, 1% 2-mercaptoethanol) and an additional 5′ incubation time at 95° C., the sample was cooled to 37° C. 1 U of N-glycosidase F (Boehringer Mannheim, cat no 1 365 177) was added and after overnight incubation at 37° C., the sample was reduced with 100 mM DTT (final concentration).

Western blot analysis of N-glycosidase F treated CM samples and non-treated controls show a shift in Mr when samples are deglycosylated (FIG. 7), demonstrating that the soluble human His-tagged IGS5 is expressed as a glycosylated protein.

Example 6D Purification

Preparative production and sample pretreatment. Sf9 cells (IGCL 83-2) exponentially growing in suspension in spinner flasks at 27° C. in TC100 medium (JRH Biosciences, cat no 56941) supplemented with 10% inactivated Foetal Calf Serum (Gibco BRL, cat no 10 084 168) were collected by low speed centrifugation and resuspended at a density of 2.106 cells/ml in TC100 medium, supplemented with 0.013 TIU aprotinin/ml (Pentex). Recombinant virus IGBV73 was added to the cells at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 2.25 pfu/cell. The cell/virus suspension was subsequently incubated at 27° C. in glass roller bottles (3×500 ml/1260 cm2) for 72 h. The CM (1.5 l) was then cleared from cells and cell debris by two consecutive low speed centrifugations. 1 tablet of EDTA free complete (EFC; Roche biochemicals, cat n° 1873580) was added to 300 ml cleared Baculo CM. HEPES, glycerol and Tween 20 were added to a final concentration of resp. 20 mM, 5% (v/v) and 0.005% (w/v). The pH of the CM was adjusted to 7.4 and the sample was filtrated (Durapore Membrane Filters 0.2 μGV). All purification steps were performed at 4° C.

Lentil Lectin Chromatography. The baculo sample was loaded overnight at 0.3 ml/min on a 5 ml Lentil Lectin Sepharose resin in a C10/10 column (Pharmacia), which had been equilibrated in buffer A (20 mM Hepes, pH7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 5% glycerol, 0.005% Tween 20) supplemented with 1 tablet EFC/500 mL. The column was washed with equilibration buffer until the absorbance at 280 nm reached baseline level and the bound proteins were eluted at 1 ml/min by applying buffer A containing 0.5 M alfa-methylpyrrannoside. The column was regenerated by applying 100 mM acetate, 500 mM NaCl, pH 5.0. The elution and regeneration liquids were collected manually and the pools were analyzed by SDS-PAGE on 12.5% Phast gels (Pharmacia) and silver staining. Prestained markers (Gibco) were included as relative molecular weight (Mr) standard.

The major amount of proteins were retrieved in the flow through and an IGS5-candidate band with a Mr of about 85.000 was observed in elution pools 1-3 (FIG. 8). Western blot analysis of the lentil chromatography with the anti-His tag mab showed that the soluble hIGS5 protein (Mr˜85 000) is quantitatively bound to the Lentil Lectin resin and that the his-tagged protein is recovered over the whole elution peak, but mainly in pools 1 and 2 (FIG. 9). The Lentil lectin elution pools 1 and 2 were further processed on the Zinc-IMAC column (runs A and B).

Immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) and dialysis. 1 ml Chelating HiTrap (Pharmacia) was loaded with zinc ions as described by the manufacturer and equilibrated with buffer B (20 mM Hepes, 100 mM NaCl, 5% glycerol, 0.005% (w/v) Tween 20, pH 7.2). Lentil elution pools 1 and 2 were loaded separately at 0.5 ml/min on the HiTrap column (IMAC run A and IMAC run B). A blank run was included to compare the chromatographic absorbance profile. The column was washed with buffer B till baseline level and bound proteins were eluted by applying an imidazole step gradient (20, 50, 100 and 200 mM) in buffer B. Fractions were collected manually. The IMAC column was regenerated by applying 20 mM Hepes, 50 mM EDTA, 500 mM NaCl, pH 7.2. Elution and regeneration pools were analyzed by SDS-PAGE (12.5% Phast gels, Pharmacia) and silver staining. The 200 mM imidazole pool was transferred to a slide a-lyzer-cassette (MWCO 10.000, Pierce) and dialyzed overnight against buffer B (130 fold excess, no buffer refreshment). The amount of soluble IGS5 in the dialyzed pool was determined with the micro-BCA method (Pierce). BSA was included as reference. The dialyzed baculo IGS5 was biochemically characterized by (1) SDS-PAGE under reducing and non reducing conditions and (2) Western blot with an anti His-tag mAb (21E1B4, Innogenetics) followed by incubation with alkaline phosphatase labeled rabbit anti-mouse Ig (Dako) and detection with NBT/BCIP staining. The glycosilation status of the soluble IGS5 was verified by PGNase F treatment (Biorad).

SDS-PAGE analysis and silver staining showed that the bulk of contaminating proteins were eluted by applying the 20 mM and 50 mM imidazole step (FIG. 10). The hIGS5 protein was retrieved in the 100 mM and 200 mM imidazole elution steps. The 85 kDa band in the 200 mM imidazole pool is a single band on the SDS-PAGE, which reacts with the anti his-tag mAb (FIG. 9). Silver staining did not reveal any difference in purity between the hIGS5 material obtained from IMAC run A and run B. Starting from 300 ml of baculo CM, 340 μg of over 95% pure his-tagged hIGS5 ectodomain was obtained by the 2 step purification procedure (i.e. a yield of about 1 mg/L).

The 200 mM imidazole Zn-IMAC pool was after SDS-PAGE blotted on PVDF membrane and the proteins were visualised by amido black staining. The PVDF bands were successively washed with 20% acetonitrile, and 20% methanol and dried. Amino-terminal sequencing was performed by Edman degradation using a Procise™ 492A (Applied biosystems) according to the manufacturer's description. Amino terminal sequencing confirmed that the Baculo IGS5 is recovered in the 85 kDa protein band.

EXAMPLE 7 Enzyme Inhibition Assay

The enzymatic activity of IGS5 polypeptides of the invention was tested with regard to the metabolism of biologically active peptides. In particular it was tested whether these IGS5 polypeptides may act on a variety of vasoactive peptides known in the state of the art e.g. such like atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), bradykinin, big endothelin (Big ET-1), endothelin (ET-1), substance P and angiotensin-1. In the context of the present invention in particular it was tested whether the IGS5 ectodomain, which is a novel human metalloprotease, hydrolyzes said vasoactive peptides. For comparison the assay was also performed for a known member of the metalloprotease family which was described earlier as soluble secreted endopeptidase (SEP) by Ikeda, Emoto et al. (J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 274 (1999): pp. 32469-32477). Furthermore, it was tested whether the activity of IGS5 to convert a Big-ET-1 analogue (the so-called 17 aa Big-ET) may be inhibited by reference compounds that are used to determine the inhibition properties with regard to enzymes having ECE and/or NEP-characteristics. Compounds used to test the inhibition of IGS5-activity on the Big-ET-1 analogue were the compound phosphoramidon which inhibits endopeptidases like NEP and ECE, the compound thiorphan which specifically inhibits NEP, and the compound CGS-35066 which is a selective ECE inhibitor. In addition, it was tested whether IGS5 hydrolyzes PACAP(1-27), a endocrinologically active peptide, known to possess neuroprotective properties. It was then checked whether the activity of IGS5 to convert PACAP(1-27) may be inhibited by a compound known to be a IGS5 inhibitor. The compound used to test the inhibition of IGS5-activity on PACAP(1-27) was the active metabolite of (3S,2′R)-3-{1-[2′-(ethoxycarbonyl)-4′-phenylbutyl]-cyclopentane-1-carbonylamino}-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-2-oxo-1H-1-benzazepine-1-acetic acid (compound Ia-2 from WO 02/094176).

Example 7A

Materials Enzyme: IGS-5 (sol hu)(his)6; or: His6-tagged IGS5 ectodomain; stock solution: 53 μg/ml in 20 mM HEPES pH 7.2, 5% glycerol, 0.005% Tween20, 100 mM NaC1, purity >99%; storage at 4 ° C. working solution: stock solution diluted with assay buffer to 10 μg/ml or 5 μg/ml. Substrates: Mca-Asp-Ile-Ala-Trp-Phe-Dpa-Thr-Pro-Glu-His-Val-Val-Pro- Tyr-Gly-Leu-Gly-COOH (SEQ ID NO: 33); Fluorescence-quenched Big-ET-1 analogue; Mca = (7-Methoxycoumarin-4-yl); Dpa = (3-[2,4-Dinitrophenyl]-L-2,3-diaminopropionyl; PACAP(1-27) = H-His-Ser-Asp-Gly-Ile-Phe-Thr-Asp-Ser- Tyr-Ser-Arg-Tyr-Arg-Lys- Gln-Met-Ala-Val-Lys-Lys-Tyr- Leu-Ala-Ala-Val-Leu-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO: 32) stock solution: 100 μM in assay buffer; storage at −20° C. (commercially available from supplier: Polypeptide Laboratories, Wolfenbüttel, Germany, or from Bachem, Weil am Rhein, Germany ) Assay buffer: 100 mM Tris pH 7.0, 250 mM NaCl.

All test compounds were dissolved in DMSO at 10 mM and were further diluted with assay buffer.

Example 7B Inhibition Assay Procedure

A quantity of 70 μl, of the assay buffer, of 10 μl enzyme working solution (10 μg/ml) and of 10 μl test compound solution were mixed in an Eppendorf vial and preincubated at 37° C. for 15 minutes. Then, 10 μl substrate stock solution was added and the reaction mixture was incubated at 37° C. for 60 minutes to allow for enzymatic hydrolysis. Subsequently the enzymatic reaction was terminated by heating at 95° C. for 5 minutes. After centrifugation (Heraeus Biofuge B, 3 min) the supernatant was subjected to HPLC analysis.

Activity Assay Procedure

A quantity of 80 μl of the assay buffer, 10 μl of enzyme working solution (5 μg/ml) and 10 μl of substrate stock solution (PACAP(1-27)) were mixed in an Eppendorf vial and incubated for 120 min. at 37° C. The enzymatic reaction was subsequently terminated by heating to 95° C. for 5 min. After centrifugation (Heraeus Biofuge B, 3 min) the supernatant was subjected to HPLC

Example 7C HPLC Procedure

In order to separate the remaining substrate from the cleavage products reversed phase HPLC technique was used with a CC 125/4 Nucleosil 300/5 C₁₈ RP column and a CC 8/4 Nucleosil 100/5 C₁₈ precolumn (commercially available from Macherey-Nagel, Duren, Germany). Thus, 60 μl of the reaction samples obtained in Example 7B were injected into the HPLC, and the column was eluted at a flow rate of 1 ml/min by applying the following gradient and solutions:

TABLE 10 Solution A: 100% H₂O + 0.5 M H₃PO₄, pH = 2.0 Solution B: 100% acetonitrile + 0.5M H₃PO₄ 0-2 min 20% B 2-6 min 20-60% B 6-8 min 60% B 8-10 min  60-90% B 10-13 min  90% B 13-15 min   90-100% B Peptides were detected by absorbance at 214 nm (UV spectroscopy) and/or by fluorescence with an excitation wavelength of 328 nm and an emission wavelength of 393 nm.

Example 7D Calculations

% Hydrolysis: For detection of substrate cleavage, the percentage of hydrolysis was calculated by directly comparing the substance peak areas in HPLC traces of the sample without addition of any IGS5 enzyme activity (blank) and of the samples with addition of IGS5 enzyme (sample). % hydrolysis was calculated on basis of the respective peak areas. % hydrolysis=100*(1−(A _(sample) /A _(blank)))

% Inhibition: The increasing fluorescence signal of the HPLC-peak of the peptide with the unquenched Mca-fluorophor after hydrolysis was taken as the basis for any calculation. This signal was compared for the samples with and without inhibitor and % inhibition was calculated on basis of the respective peak areas. If non labeled peptide substrates were used, basis of the calculation of % inhibition was the peak area of the remaining undegraded peptide substrate for an inhibitory test compound containing sample (inhib) in comparison to samples containing only peptide without addition of any IGS5 enzyme activity (blank) and to samples containing peptide and enzyme without inhibitor (control) according to the following equation % inhib=100*((A _(inhib) −A _(control))/(A _(blank) −A _(control))) All samples were run in duplicate and mean values were used. A standard inhibitor (10 nM and 100 nM Phosphoramidon) and/or a solvent control (0.1%) was added to each assay run.

Example 7E Results

With regard to the IGS5 polypeptides of the present invention the results of Example 7 show that these IGS5 metalloprotease polypeptides hydrolyze in vitro a variety of vasoactive peptides known in the state of the art, in particular such as Big ET-1, ET-1, ANP and bradykinin. The results of the hydrolysis assay in comparison to the activity of SEP are shown in Table 10. From these results it is concluded that IGS5 may be particularly involved in the metabolism of said biologically active peptides.

TABLE 10 Hydrolysis of vasoactive peptides by IGS5 polypeptides in comparison to SEP (soluble secreted endopeptidase). % Hydrolysis % Hydrolysis by SEP by IGS5 Polypeptide (Ikeda, Emoto et al., 1999) Conditions: Conditions: 100 μl assay volume 100 μl assay volume 100 ng IGS5 polypeptide; 10 μg partially purified SEP; Vasoactive 0.5 μM substrate; 0.5 μM substrate; Peptide 2 h, 37° C. 12 h, 37° C. ANP 5 (80*) >95 Bradykinin 100 (62**)  >95 Big ET-1 (?)**** 42 ET-1 <30   92 Substance P 100  >95 Angiotensin   15*** >95 1 17 aa Big 41 n.d. ET 1**** PACAP 69 n.d. (1-27)***** *500 ng IGS5 polypeptide **10 ng IGS5 polypeptide ***degradation of angiotensin I does not result in formation of angiotensin II ****17 aa big-ET-1 was used as an analog of the natural big-ET-1; hydrolyzing activity of IGS5 was also detected using the natural big-ET-1, but could not be quantified due to difficulties with the HPLC-detection *****Addition of the known active metabolite of the mixed NEP/SEP inhibitor (3S,2′R)-3-{1-[2′-(ethoxycarbonyl)-4′-phenylbutyl]-cyclopentane-1-carbonylamino}-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-2-oxo-1H-1-benzazepine-1-acetic acid, (compound Ia-2 from WO 02/094176) completely suppressed PACAP(1-27) cleavage.

Furthermore, the results of the experiments with reference compounds for inhibition of ECE- and/or NEP-activity show that the activity of IGS5 metalloprotease polypeptides of the present invention to convert the Big-ET-1 analogue 17 aa Big-ET is inhibited by phosphoramidon, a reference compound for ECE/NEP-inhibition, but IGS5 is not efficiently inhibited by the NEP-inhibitor thiorphan. These results are shown in Table 11. IGS5 polypeptides are also not inhibited by the selective ECE-inhibitor CGS-35066, a potent and selective non-peptidic inhibitor of endothelin-converting enzyme-1 with sustained duration of action. (De Lombart et al., J. Med. Chem. 2000, Feb. 10; 43(3):488-504).

TABLE 11 Inhibition of IGS5 polypeptide's activity to convert the Big-ET-1 analogue 17 aa Big-ET. Inhibitor Compound IC50 nM Phosphoramidon 18 Thiorphan >1000 CGS-35066 1300

In addition, it was also analysed whether PACAP(1-27) is cleaved by other recombinantly produced metalloproteases of the M13 family, such as NEP, ECE-1 and XCE/DINE. None of the aforementioned enzymes was able to cleave PACAP(1-27) under the assay conditions as described above for IGS5. The data summarized herein indicate that PACAP(1-27) might be the physiologically relevant substrate of hSEP.

EXAMPLE 8 In Situ Hybridization (ISH) Analysis of IGS5 (SEP) and NEP mRNA in Rat Brain

Preparation of frozen tissue sections: Briefly, brain tissue was dissected from male Wistar rats and immediately frozen in 2-methylbutane, cooled on dry ice, and stored at −70° C. Tissues were then sliced into 15 μm thick sections using a cryomicrotome (Leica CM3050). Sections were thaw-mounted on glass slides coated with 0.1% poly-L-lysine and stored at −20° C.

Preparation of riboprobes: Riboprobes were prepared by in vitro transcription (IVT) of PCR amplicons, which contained the T7 RNA polymerase promoter at their 3′ end to generate antisense probes. The table below contains an overview of the PCR primers that were used to generate the different rat riboprobes.

TABLE 12 PCR primers that were used to generate the different rat riboprobes IP Amplicon Gene Primers  No. size Primer sequences SEP 1F 20225 213 bp CCAGCTGTGGAGAAGGCCAA (IGS5) GA (SEQ ID NO: 34) 1R 20224 GCCAGTAATACGACTCACTAT AGGGAGAGATGACGTGCCGGC TGGAGTT (SEQ ID NO: 35) NEP 1F 20270 223 bp TAAGTGGCGCGGCGGTAGTCA A (SEQ ID NO: 36) 1R 20269 GCCAGTAATACGACTCACTAT AGGGAGAGTGCTGAGTCCACC AGTCAAC (SEQ ID NO: 37)

PCR reactions were run in a 50 μl volume and contained 10 pmol each of the forward and reverse primers, 0.8 μl dNTPs (25 mM each), 5 μl 10× reaction buffer and 2.5 U AmpliTaq Gold. Template DNA (1.5 ng of a plasmid containing the cloned sequences of either rat IGS5 (SEP) or rat NEP) was added. The PCR reaction mix was then subjected to 30 cycles of denaturation (94° C. for 30 s), annealing (55° C. for 30 s) and extension (72° C. for 1 min). There was a final extension at 72° C. for 7 min. The PCR products were separated via agarose gel electrophoresis and analyzed after ethidium bromide staining. Under these conditions all PCR reactions yielded a clear band of expected length.

In vitro transcription for generating ³⁵S labeled riboprobes was done using a Boehringer kit (Cat. No 999 644). The in vitro transcription mixture contained 1.5 μl of the unpurified PCR fragments, 3 μl ATP/GTP/UTP mix (2.5 mM each), 2 μl 10× transcription buffer, 10 μl [³⁵S]-UTP (>1000 Ci/mmol, 10 mCi/ml), 0.5 μl RNAse inhibitor, 2 μl 0.2M DTT and 1 μl T7 RNA polymerase (10 units/μl). The reaction was incubated at 37° C. for 1 h. The template DNA was then digested with 20 units of RNAse free DNAse I for 15 min at 37° C. The reaction was stopped with adding 2 μl of 0.2 M EDTA. The synthesized riboprobe was purified using Quick Spin™ columns (Boehringer). After purification 2 μl of 0.2M DTT was added to the eluate. The amount of the probe produced and its specific activity was determined from the relative amount of counts that remained bound to DE81™ filters (Whatman) after washing versus the total counts before washing. Specific activity was in the range of 1×10⁹ to 1.4×10⁹ cpm/μg. The size and purity of the riboprobes were verified via denaturing agarose gel electrophoresis. Single bands of expected length were observed.

To produce large amounts of cold riboprobe for control sections, in vitro transcription was done using the Megashortscript™ kit (Ambion). Briefly, 2 μl PCR fragment, 8 μl ATP, CTP, GTP and UTP (75 mM each), 2 μl 10× transcription buffer, 6 μl DEPC treated water, and 2 μl T7 Megashortscript Enzyme Mix, were incubated at 37° C. for 4 hours. The template DNA was then digested by incubating the mixture with 20 units of RNAse free DNAse I at 37° C. for 15 min. This reaction was stopped with heating at 95° C. for 5 min. Probes were purified using Quick Spin™ columns (Boehringer). The yield was in the range of 8-20 μg/20 μl reaction. The size and purity of the riboprobes were verified via denaturing RNA gel electrophoresis. Single bands of expected length were observed.

In situ hybridization: The sections were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.01 M sodium phosphate buffer (PB, pH 7.4) at 4° C. for 30 min. rinsed in PBS, and next treated with proteinase K (1 mg/ml; 5′ at RT). They were then rinsed in PBS and fixed again in 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.01 M sodium phosphate buffer (PB, pH 7.4) for 20 min. at 4° C. After rinsing in PBS, sections were treated with 0.25% acetic anhydride in triethanolamine-HCl (0.1 M, pH8) for 10′ at room temperature. They were rinsed in PBS, followed by dehydration in graded series of ethanol (70%, 90% and 100%) and delipidation in chloroform for 5 min. Sections were rinsed with ethanol and air dried. The sections were incubated with hybridization solution (250 μl/slide) which contained 20 mM phosphate buffer, 50% formamide, 4×SSC, 1×Denhardt's solution, 10% dextran sulphate, 1% sarcosyl and either 5×10⁵ or 1×10⁶ cpm/ml of the ³⁵S labeled riboprobe. The incubation was done at 62° C. overnight.

After the hybridization, the sections were washed in 2×SSC with 50% formamide at 62° C. for 30 min. followed by two washes in 0.1×SSC at 67° C. for 45 and 15 min. each. After washing slides were dehydrated, air dried and then autoradiographed first using phosphor-imaging screens, then with X-ray films (Kodak Biomax MR-1) and finally using autoradiographic emulsion (Amersham LM1).

Control hybridization reactions were performed by co-hybridization with excess (more than 100 fold) corresponding or non-corresponding cold RNA probes. A non-overlapping probe generated from the same cDNA was used as the non-corresponding probe.

Results

For IGS5 (SEP), the highest ISH labeling was found in brain stem, including the solitary tract nucleus and deep cerebellar nuclei, such as the interposed and lateral cerebellar nucleus. Weak to moderate expression was observed in the thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus (CA1-3, but not dentate gyrus) and cerebral cortex. No labeling could be detected in the cerebellar cortex. In the solitary tract nucleus (NTS), we focused on the posterior part, which is implicated in cardiovascular regulation. The ISH signal was found in the dorsomedial and medial nucleus of NTS.

The highest expression of NEP was found in the choroid plexus. Moderate to high levels of NEP mRNA was observed in caudate-putamen, accumbens nucleus, olfactory tubercle, and pontine nucleus. Weak labeling was found in the hippocampus, medial habenular nucleus and cerebellar cortex. No ISH labeling could be found in deep cerebellar nuclei, NTS, most of the brain stem, thalamic and hypothalamic nuclei.

These results are in agreement with the data of Facchinetti et al. (Neuroscience 118:627-639, 2003). In general, the expression pattern of IGS5 (SEP) and NEP mRNA is non-overlapping. IGS5 (SEP) mRNA is more abundant in the posterior part and NEP in the anterior part of the rat brain. In some brain areas such as the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, ISH labeling was found for both genes. Although the Facchinetti article did not specify which sub-nuclei of NTS were investigated, our data show that the posterior sub-nuclei (which are implicated in cardiovascular control) are clearly expressing IGS5 (SEP). Neither we nor Facchinetti found evidence for NEP mRNA expression in the NTS.

EXAMPLE 9 Analysis of IGS5 (SEP) mRNA Levels in Rat Brain Subregions Via Q-RT-PCR

Experimental Procedures

RNA extraction: RNA was extracted from different rat tissues (male Wistar rat, 400 g; tissues were immediately frozen in liquid N₂ after dissection) using the TRIzol® LS reagent (Life Technologies # 10296-028) according to the protocol of the supplier.

cDNA synthesis for Q-RT-PCR. cDNA was synthesized via reverse transcription from either total RNA of different human tissues (Clontech human RNA panels # K4000-1, K4001-1, K4002-1, K4003-1 and K4004-1), from Stratagene total RNA samples of breast[cat# 735044], cervix [cat# 735261], ovary [cat# 735260] and skin [cat# 735031]), from poly A⁺ RNA of different Clontech human brain subregions such as substantia nigra (cat# 6580-1), cerebellum (cat# 6543-1), amygdala (cat# 6574-1), thalamus (cat# 6582-1), corpus callosum (cat# 6577-1), caudate nucleus (cat# 6575-1), hippocampus (cat# 6578-1), hypothalamus, frontal lobe, nucleus accumbens, medulla oblongata (custom made CS1007A), from total RNA of dorsal root ganglion (Clontech custom made CS1020A), frontal cortex (Ambion, cat# 6810), basal ganglia (Ambion, cat# 6818), from total RNA of different human brain neuroblastoma and astrocytoma cell-lines (SH-SY5Y, SK-N-BE, SK-N-MC, CCF-STTG1, U87 MG with and w/o fibronectin, IMR-32 with and w/o fibronectin, HCN-2 and from total RNA of various cell-lines such as HEK 293-T (embryonic kidney cells), CHO (chinese hamster ovary cells), COS-7 (African green monkey kidney cells) and Hela (epitheloid cervix carcinoma cells) or from total RNA of the different rat tissues obtained as described above.

Prior to reverse transcription, RNA was treated with DNAse I (Invitrogen # 18068-015) according to the procedure recommended by the supplier in order to destroy possible contaminating genomic DNA. The DNAse I reaction was stopped by adding EDTA (final concentration=2.3 mM) and heating for 10 min at 65° C. DNAse I treated RNA (5 μg total RNA, respectively 945 ng poly A⁺ RNA) was annealed to 2.5 μg oligo(dT) (Invitrogen # N420-01) and subjected to reverse transcription using Omniscript reverse transcriptase (Qiagen; 100 μl reaction volume; 1 h at 37° C.) (=RT⁺-reaction). The reverse transcriptase was inactivated at 93° C. for 5 min. Part of the DNAse treated RNA was not subjected to reverse transcription and was used as a control to check for the presence of remaining genomic DNA (=RT⁻-RNA). As a control for the absence of genomic DNA in the RT⁻ samples, a quantitative PCR amplification reaction specific for human/rat glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was performed using 145 ng RT⁻ total RNA as template. No GAPDH specific signal was obtained. We concluded that the synthesized cDNA was free of genomic DNA.

TaqMan Q-RT-PCR. Q-RT-PCR reactions were carried out in a 20 μl reaction volume containing 1× Light Cycler FastStart DNA Master Hybridization Mix (Roche cat no 2239272), 2 mM MgCl₂, 900 nM of gene specific forward and reverse primers, 250 nM of gene specific TaqMan probe and 1.6 μl of the total RNA cDNA synthesis reactions or of the poly A⁺ RNA cDNA synthesis reactions as template (this amounts to 1.6 ng mRNA/reaction or respectively to 15.12 ng mRNA/reaction, assuming that mRNA represents 2% of total RNA). 1× Light Cycler FastStart DNA Master Hybridization Mix contained FastStart Taq DNA polymerase, dNTP mix with dUTP, reaction buffer and 1 mM MgCl₂. Specific primers and probes were designed with the Primer Express™ software (Applied Biosystems). The following Table 13 displays the primers and TaqMan probes used.

TABLE 13 Overview of the oligonucleotide primers that were used in Example 9 Target Forward Reverse TaqMan gene primer primer probe T_(m) HuGAPDH IP19642 IP19643 IP19262 60° C. HuSEP.1/.2 IP16506 IP16507 IP16508 59° C. RatGAPDH IP1001053 IP1001054 IP1001055 60° C. RatSEP IP1001026 IP1001027 IP1001028 59° C.

For quantification, gene specific standard curves were established on a 1/10 dilution series (10⁸ to 10 copies/reaction) of linearized gene specific plasmid DNA or on a 1/10 dilution series (10⁵ to 10 copies/reaction) of human genomic DNA.

PCR reactions were carried out in glass capillary cuvettes in the Light Cycler™ instrument. After an initial incubation at 50° C. for 2 min (to allow the AmpErase UNG reaction), followed by the activation of the AmpliTaq Gold DNA polymerase for 10 min at 95° C., reactions were cycled 50 times as follows: 15 sec denaturation at 95° C., 60 sec annealing/extension at 59° C. or 60° C.

Quantification of the samples was carried out using the Light Cycler Software version 3.5. Control experiments analyzing the expression of GAPDH were performed.

Results

The results of the expression analysis of IGS5 (SEP) mRNA in human peripheral and CNS tissues is displayed in FIG. 11. The highest expression levels for IGS5 (SEP) were found in testis (3300 copies/ng mRNA), followed by fetal brain and prostate (400 and 330 copies/ng mRNA respectively). Lower expression levels were found in lung and trachea (about 130 copies/ng mRNA) and in spinal cord, thyroid and small intestine (about 70 copies/ng mRNA). In the CNS-panel, almost 400 copies/ng mRNA were detected in dorsal root ganglia. No big differences in expression levels were observed between independent samples from the same tissue (where available). The sub-brain regions express very low levels or no IGS5 (SEP), except for hypothalamus and the neuroblastoma cell-line SK-N-BE (about 130 copies/ng mRNA).

The results of the expression analysis of IGS5 (SEP) mRNA in tissue panels from 3 different rats is displayed in FIG. 12. Due to abnormally low GAPDH levels in duodenum (panel I+II), brainstem (panel III), septum (panel I) and dorsal root ganglia (panel III) the profiling results in these tissues are not reliable. Tissues marked with (&) were not dissected in rat panel I. Tissues marked with (*) were not dissected in the rat panels II and III. The expression pattern of rat IGS5 (rSEP) is similar to that in human tissues but there are also some differences. Most striking is the extremely high expression level found in testis (>250,000 copies/ng mRNA). Apart from testis, IGS5 (SEP) was most prominently expressed in the brain regions (1000 to 7000 copies/ng mRNA). In the peripheral tissues, highest expression levels (apart from testis) were found in vas deferens, prostate, lung and kidney. However in the latter three tissues high levels were only found in one of the three animals tested. In brain subregions, highest levels of rSEP expression were detected in the hypothalamus, followed by brain stem (particularly NTS) and thalamus. This is in agreement with the ISH data. On the other hand, Q-RT-PCR data also showed relatively high expression of rSEP (over 1000 copies/ng of mRNA) in corpus callosum, hippocampus, cortex and striatum, where no or only weak ISH signals could be found.

EXAMPLE 10 Immunostaining (IHC) of NEP and IGS5 (SEP) in Rat Brain Tissue

Experimental Procedures

Zamboni fixed frozen rat brain tissue. An 11-week-old male Wistar rat was anaesthetised and heparin (6000 U/rat) was injected IM. The rats were perfused via the left ventricle first with a physiological salt solution (15 min), later with Zamboni fixative for 30 min. Zamboni is a phosphate-buffered (pH 7.4) fixative containing paraformaldehyde (4%) with 10% saturated picric acid solution. After dissection, the tissues were post-fixed for an additional 2 h. The Llewellyn-Smith procedure was performed to wash out the fixative and to enhance tissue penetration (Llewellyn-Smith et al., 1985, J. Histochem. Cytochem., 33, 857-866). Briefly, tissues were washed in 50% ethanol (5 times 20 min) and incubated in 0.05% thimerosal in PBS (ON at 4° C.). Hereafter, tissues were immersed in sodium cyanoborohydride (0.1% in PBS, 30 min). Between successive steps tissues were rinsed in PBS (0.01M; pH 7.4). After fixation, tissues were incubated in a graded series of sucrose (10%, 20%, 30%) for cryoprotection and frozen in isopentane pre-chilled in liquid nitrogen.

Indirect fluorescent immunohistochemistry on Zamboni fixed frozen brain sections. Rat brain sections were pre-incubated for 30 min with PBS containing 10% normal goat serum and 1% Triton-X-100. The sections were incubated ON at RT with commercial NEP antiserum (diluted 1/1000, Chemicon, AB5458) or with different polyclonal IGS5 (SEP) antisera from rabbit (3 μg/ml; raised against the purified IGS5 ectodomain). For IGS5 (SEP) IHC, sections were pre-treated with a high temperature antigen retrieval technique (10 min at 90° C. in 0.1M Tris-HCl buffer pH 9). Alexa488-conjugated goat anti-rabbit antibodies (Jackson 111-035-046, 1/400) were used to visualise immuno-reactive primary antibodies and incubated for 1 h at RT. Sections were mounted in vectashield containing propidium iodide or DAPI (Vector Laboratories, H-1300 and H-1200). All antisera were diluted in PBS containing 10% normal goat serum, 0.1% bovine serum albumin and 0.05% thimerosal. Three washes in PBS were done in between each step described above. Staining was analysed using the Zeiss Axiovert imaging system.

The NEP and IGS5 (SEP) IHC reactions were optimized on normal rat brain sections. Coronal sections in three different regions of the brain, telencephalon, diencephalon and rhombencephalon, were selected. The reliability of the protocols was evaluated by comparing the staining pattern of the metallo-endoproteases with existing literature and own data.

Results

For NEP, labeling was found in striatum, nucleus accumbens, the lateral septal nucleus, globus pallidus, thalamus and in the cerebral cortex, more specifically in the cerebral motor cortex (M1). NEP-immuno-reactivity was also found in cerebellum. Some immuno-reactive structures were observed in the corpus callosum and the hippocampus. No labeling was found in the hypothalamus and the brainstem. Strong labeling of the pia mater of the meninges and choroid plexi of the lateral, third and fourth ventricle was observed. The expression pattern is in line with the ISH data (see EXAMPLE 8) and literature data on different species (rat, mouse and pig) using different techniques (IHC, ISH and autoradiography binding procedure) (Waksman et al., 1986, PNAS, 83, 1523-1527; Matsas et al., 1986, Neuroscience, 18, 991-1012; Ronco et al., 1988, Lab. Invest., 58, 210-217, Gaudoux et al., J. 1993, J. Neurosci. Res., 34, 426-433 and Fukami et al., 2002, Neurosci. Res., 43, 39-56). Literature data indicate that at the cellular level NEP was localized in neurons, more specifically in axonal and synaptic membranes. Our immunostainings visualized however thick, hollow structures. We would hypothesize that the NEP labeling is associated with myelin sheaths surrounding nerve fibers (oligodendrocytes) or blood vessels. In the peripheral nervous system however, NEP expression was also observed in the myelin sheaths (Matsas et al., 1986).

From our IGS5 (SEP) antisera available and reactive with spermatozoa (Rb341, 342, 413, 414, 418 and 482), only two antisera, Rb414 and Rb482, were immuno-reactive on rat brain sections and showed a similar staining pattern. In the brainstem, IGS5 (SEP) immuno-reactivity was found in cell bodies of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus and the hypoglossal nucleus. Antiserum Rb414 labelled only fibers in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus. Weak labeling of cell bodies was found in the inferior olive and the lateral reticular nucleus. Only antiserum Rb482 weakly labeled cell bodies in the nucleus ambiguus. In the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) labeling of fibers was only observed using antiserum Rb414. In striatum, nucleus accumbens, corpus callosum cerebral cortex and cerebellum, no IGS5 (SEP) labeling was found. The IGS5 (SEP) IHC data correlates with the ISH data in the rat brainstem (see EXAMPLE 8), which showed strong labeling in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus and moderate labeling in the NTS. Antiserum Rb341 also weakly labeled neuronal cell bodies in the inferior olive and the lateral reticular nucleus. No other brainstem cells were immuno-reactive.

EXAMPLE 11 Analysis of the Expression Pattern of IGS5 in Comparison with PACAP(1-27) and NEP

Summarizing the results obtained from EXAMPLES 8, 9 and 10 with regard to the general expression pattern of IGS5 (SEP) in the human body and in the rat, the strongest expression of IGS5 (SEP) is found in testis, sperm and prostate, whilst lower levels can be found in the central and peripheral nervous system. These loci coincide precisely with the tissues most abundantly expressing PACAP (Li et al., 2004, Endocrine. 2004, 23(1):59-75), and also distinguish IGS5 (SEP) markedly from other members of the M13 subfamily. Even more striking is the analysis of regional expression patterns of IGS5 (SEP) within the CNS and the comparison with the corresponding expression patterns of NEP. A comparison of results gives clear experimental evidence for largely complementary, non-overlapping expression of SEP and NEP in brain subregions.

Moreover, when comparing loci of IGS5 (SEP) and PACAP gene transcripts in the central and peripheral nervous system, it is evident that IGS5 (SEP) and PACAP co-localize not only in brain subregions, but also in the peripheral nervous system, where strong expression of SEP and PACAP is found in dorsal root ganglia. These findings strongly corroborate the hypothesis that SEP is the CNS metalloendopeptidase which terminates PACAP signaling. The following table summarizes the results as obtained in Examples 8, 9 and 10 described herewithin and corresponding and additional data which can be derived from the cited literature.

TABLE 14 Comparative Distribution of SEP, NEP and PACAP in Brain Subregions Brain Area SEP* NEP*/** PACAP*** Brain stem s %* + Thalamus w-m %* + Hypothalamus w-m %* + Hippocampus w-m w* + Cerebral cortex w-m %* + Cerebellar cortex % w* % Choroid plexus % s* % Nucleus accumbens % m-s* + Caudate putamen % m-s* % Olfactory tubercle % m-s* % Amygdala complex w %** + Mesencephalon m %** + (substantia nigra) Pituitary w m** + Spinal cord, dorsal m s** + horn Spinal cord, ventral m w** + horn % = no; s = strong; m = moderate; w = weak labeling *Source: Innogenetics N.V. ISH study rat brain & Q-RT-PCR data human brain, summarized in Exhibits 3 and 4 **Source: Facchinetti et al., 2003, Neuroscience 118, 627. ***Sources: Dejda et al., 2005, Pharm. Rep. 57, 307; Takei et al., 1998, J. NeuroSci. Res. 54, 698; Palkovits et al., 1995, Brain Res. 699, 116; Vaudry et al., 2000, Pharm Rev. 52, 269.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, all of these findings clearly indicate a non-redundant role of IGS5 (SEP) in the CNS, and distinguish SEP from other metalloproteases of the M13 subfamily also expressed in the human brain, i.e. XCE, ECE-1 and NEP. Moreover, they strongly suggest that PACAP(1-27) is the physiologically relevant substrate of SEP in the CNS.

Furthermore, the peptide PACAP(1-27) links IGS5 (hSEP) to neurodegenerative disorders, in particular to Parkinson's Disease: PACAP is a biologically active peptide of the VIP/secretin/glucagon family which has been discovered in 1989. It exists in two forms, PACAP(1-27) and PACAP(1-38), both of which are physiologically active. However, the second form just harbours a C-terminal extension of the first, and the first 27 amino acids are sufficient for biological activity. The PACAP sequence is conserved in all mammalian species investigated so far. The peptide is expressed in CNS, spinal cord, pancreas beta-cells and testis, areas which largely coincide with hSEP expression according to the results displayed above. The only exception is the pancreas, but here we have to take into account that our data on pancreatic expression of hSEP may not be sensitive enough to pick up expression in pancreatic beta cells. Regional expression of PACAP in the brain is most prominent in cerebral cortex, pituitary body, amygdala complex, thalamus and brain stem (Dejda et al., 2005, Pharmacological Reports, 57, 307-320). From our data, we know that these areas are devoid of NEP expression. This means that not only PACAP gene transcripts are co-localized with CNS regions that express SEP, but also that the corresponding regions are devoid of the most closely related human MP of the M13 family, NEP, further corroborating the specific link between SEP and PACAP.

There is convincing evidence in the public domain that PACAP has a protective role in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, as shown in various animal models (MPTP mouse model, 6-OHDA rat model, rotenone-induced mitochondrial dysfunction). For a review, see e.g. Gonzalez-Rey et al., 2005, Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, 9, 923-929 and also Reglödi et al. 2004, Behav. Brain Res., 151, 303-312

In EXAMPLE 7, we demonstrated that a mixed NEP/SEP inhibitor is able to block PACAP(1-27) cleavage by hSEP. In view of the above-referenced probable causative link between hSEP activity in the brain, PACAP and neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Parkinson's disease, SEP inhibitors are likely beneficial in treating Parkinson's disease.

The foregoing description and examples have been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and are not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the described embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed broadly to include all variations falling within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof. 

1. A method for the treatment of a neurodegenerative disease in a mammalian subject, the method comprising the step of administering to said subject an effective amount of a compound inhibiting or decreasing activity of an neprilysin II (IGS5) polypeptide wherein said IGS5 polypeptide has a zinc metallopeptidase activity and comprises a human amino acid sequence having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6 and wherein said compound is selected from the group consisting of: (i) Phosphoramidon; (ii) (3S,2′R)-3-{1-[2′-(ethoxycarbonyl)-4′-phenylbutyl]-cyclopentane-1-carbonylamino}-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-2-oxo-1H-1-benzazepine-1-acetic acid; and (iii) a compound inhibiting expression of IGS5 selected from antisense sequences, oligonucleotides which form triple helices or ribozymes.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the neurodegenerative disease is selected from the group consisting of Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, Huntington's disease, stroke, and cerebral ischemia.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said compound is a selective inhibitor of said IGS5 polypeptide.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said compound does not inhibit the activity of a neprisysin (NEP) polypeptide and/or endothelin converting enzyme-1 (ECE-1) polypeptide.
 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said IGS5 polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence having at least 99% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said neurodegenerative disease is associated with pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) (1-27) levels decreased below normal baseline levels of PACAP(1-27). 